In case you missed the low-speed chase toward the playoffs in the WNBA's Western Conference, it just finished with the Lynx sputtering and stalling just short of the finish line.

Five of the six teams in the conference finished below .500 -- and three of those sub-finishers made the playoffs. The Lynx finished 13-21, good enough to tie for fourth place but out of the playoff picture after losing a tiebreaker with Los Angeles.

It's hard to determine which is the greater indignity: to make or miss the playoffs with such a poor record. Either way, the situation at least sparked a thought that led to some research. In the four "major" pro sports leagues, what teams had the worst records and still made the playoffs? Here is what we found:

NFL Since 1978, the first year the NFL had a 16-game schedule, nine different playoff teams are tied at the bottom with an 8-8 regular season record. It happened six times between 1999-2008. Among them: the 2004 Vikings, who defeated the Packers in the playoffs.

Note: In the strike-shortened 1982 season, eight teams from each conference made the playoffs after a condensed nine-game regular season. Two of those teams -- Detroit and Cleveland -- were 4-5 during the regular season.

NBA While the 1952-53 season certainly qualifies as a different era of the NBA -- the Minnesota franchise (Lakers, of course) won the championship, after all -- the sheer awfulness of one playoff team demands inclusion.

Your Baltimore Bullets that season went 16-54, but that was good enough to make the playoffs in a league that sent eight of 10 teams into the postseason. Baltimore was 3-34 on the road.

NHL Returning to the modern era for our research, we started in the NHL with the 1979-80 season -- when the league jumped to 21 teams, of which 16 would make the playoffs. That was the standard still in 1987-88 when the Toronto Maple Leafs went 21-49-10 but managed to reach the postseason. The Leafs that season managed 52 points -- one more than the last place North Stars in the old Norris Division.

MLB Much like the NFL, no MLB team has made the postseason with a sub-.500 record except in a strike year (the 1981 Royals finished 50-53 overall but made the playoffs under the convoluted first half-second half system).

The distinction of the worst record for a playoff team in a full season falls to the 2005 Padres (82-80). They were 77-79 with six games to play, but the Padres rallied to win five of their final six before getting swept in the playoffs by St. Louis.

MICHAEL RAND