When I see "it's hard to beat a team 3 times in a season" I always think of the Bill Burr quote when he talks about the stat that most shark attacks on humans happen in shallow water. Of course that's where they happen because that's where the people are. Of course it's hard to beat a team 3 times because it's extremely rare to be 2-0 against a team and meet up with them a 3rd time. The saying that it's hard to beat a team 3 times insinuates the 2-0 team is going to have a hard time winning that 3rd game because they won the first two. That's just not true at all.
