World Series Drought-Buster: Which teams could end longest runs without titles?

Mathematical probability, successful a perfectly equitable organisation of championships, means each MLB squad would triumph a World Series erstwhile each 30 years. That is not the satellite we unrecorded in, of course, truthful galore franchises person experienced agelong rubric droughts that person stretched into aggregate decades. There is adjacent 1 that has ne'er appeared successful the Fall Classic.

That establishes a ace amusive constituent to this year's postseason. We person 7 playoff teams who person gone longer than 30 years since their past World Series title -- including the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres, who person ne'er won, and the Seattle Mariners, who person inactive ne'er reached the World Series 48 years into their franchise history.

Maybe, conscionable maybe, immoderate team's long-suffering fans volition acquisition that euphoria of winning the last crippled of the season.

Yes, it's the twelvemonth of the World Series Drought-Buster Watch. Let's look astatine those 7 franchises, what went incorrect done the years, and wherefore this whitethorn yet beryllium The Year.

Cleveland Guardians

Last World Series title: 1948

Last World Series appearance: 2016 (lost to the Cubs successful 7 games).

Closest telephone since then: Lost the 2024 ALCS to the Yankees successful 5 games.

Three achy postseason moments:

• Led Game 7 of the 1997 World Series against the Marlins 2-1 successful the ninth inning, but the Marlins tied the people disconnected person Jose Mesa. In the bottommost of the 11th, 2nd baseman Tony Fernandez fto a dilatory grounder deed by Florida's Craig Counsell spell nether his mitt for an error, mounting up Edgar Renteria's walk-off hit.

• In Game 7 of the 2016 World Series against the Cubs, Rajai Davis' three-run homer successful the eighth miraculously tied the score, but the Cubs scored doubly successful the apical of the 10th. Davis' two-out azygous successful the bottommost of the inning made it 8-7, but Cleveland was near with light-hitting Michael Martinez astatine the sheet with 2 outs and the World Series connected the line. Terry Francona had inserted Martinez successful the ninth inning to get a amended outfield limb successful the crippled erstwhile the Cubs got a runner to 3rd base. Martinez deed a dilatory bouncer to 3rd basal to extremity the game.

• The champion Cleveland squad ever, the 1995 squad with 1 of the top lineups of each time, loses the clinching Game 6 of the World Series 1-0 to Atlanta portion registering conscionable 1 deed with the lone tally of the crippled coming connected a David Justice location tally disconnected reliever Jim Poole.

Why they haven't won: Can't triumph the large game.

No franchise has suffered much postseason agony, astatine slightest since the Red Sox broke done successful 2004.Though the Cleveland franchise was surely dreadful for astir of the 1960s, '70s and '80s, it has been consistently competitory since 1995, making the postseason 15 times and ranking sixth successful wide wins during that span.

But the Guardians are 2-8 successful winner-take-all games, winning the archetypal of those successful the 1997 ALDS and beating the Tigers successful Game 5 of past year's ALDS, but losing 8 successful a enactment successful between. Along the way, they blew:

• A 2-0 pb successful the 1999 ALDS, losing the last 2 games to Boston by scores of 23-7 and 12-8.

• A 2-1 pb to Seattle successful the 2001 ALDS.

• A 3-1 pb to Boston successful the 2007 ALCS, losing the last 3 games 7-1, 12-2 and 11-2.

• A 3-1 pb successful the 2016 World Series, losing the last 2 games astatine home.

• A 2-0 pb to the Yankees successful the 2017 ALDS.

• A 2-1 pb to the Yankees successful the 2022 ALDS.

In those six series, they had 16 chances to adjacent retired a bid and went 0-16.

Why this could beryllium the year: Cleveland has surely had amended and much glamorous teams than this one. Indeed, with a antagonistic tally differential connected the seas...