List of Major League Baseball Franchise Postseason Droughts

List Of Major League Baseball Franchise Postseason Droughts

This is a list of Major League Baseball franchise postseason and World Series droughts. Those teams which have never achieved a particular accomplishment in their franchise history are listed by the date they entered the leagues. The list includes only the modern World Series between the American League and the National League, not the various 19th-century championship series.

All 16 of the original Major League franchises (i.e., those in place when the World Series began in 1903) have won the World Series, with the longest wait for a franchise's first Championship being for the Phillies (77 years, ending in 1980). Since expansion began in 1961, eight of the 14 expansion teams have never won the World Series. Further, two franchises (the Cubs and Indians) have current Championship droughts that pre-date the expansion era. The second- and third-longest Championship droughts in history (after the Cubs' current 104-year drought) were ended recently by the Red Sox (85 years, ending in 2004) and the White Sox (87 years, ending in 2005). Notably, the Cubs' current World Series drought began before the creation of any of the other three major American sports leagues—the NHL was founded in 1917, the NFL in 1920, and the NBA in 1946.

Fewer teams have never won a pennant (i.e., the league championship, the two winners of which meet in the World Series). Two expansion franchises (the Expos/Nationals and Mariners) have never won a pennant, both of which have waited for more than 35 years, and only the Cubs (at 67 years) have a current pennant drought that pre-dates the expansion era.

Every MLB franchise has at least been to the postseason, especially since expansion of the playoffs in 1995 made that feat easier. Only three franchises (the Royals, Pirates, and Blue Jays) have current postseason droughts of 19 years or more, while all others are at 11 years or less. In 2012, the Nationals broke their franchise postseason drought of 31 years (since the 1981 playoff appearance of the Montreal Expos) and a 79-year postseason drought for the city of Washington (since the Senators' 1933 pennant).