Braves give hope to these three clubs

With his 2021 World Series victory, the Braves ended a historic streak. They had gone 16 times in a row to the postseason without winning a title before this season, two more than any other team in history. That means they had been 16 times in October without winning it all since their 1995 title. That streak will continue until someone gets over it, but luckily for Atlanta, it’s over.

The fun thing about the chain, however, is that it shows you that even the longest of these periods are destined to end. This isn’t the only such streak to end recently, meaning there is a lot of hope on the horizon for the three teams with the longest active chains before the start of the 2022 season.

Streaks must end, and many have recently

Since the 2016 season, three of the longest chains of teams that reached the postseason without a title have already ended. In 2016, the Cubs ended one of 14 appearances in October that began in 1910, the first time they went to the postseason after their famous World Series title in 1908.

Then, in 2020, the Dodgers snapped a string of 13 postseason appearances when they won the Fall Classic. The streak began in 1995, their first playoff appearance since they were crowned in 1988, and continued until 2019, just before the 2020 win. The Dodgers’ streak was tied for the third longest in history, only behind the Braves and Cubs mentioned above.

If the three longest chains are over, that leads us to wonder which teams could be the next to shake off streaks of that nature. There are three teams with active streaks of 10 or more postseason appearances that did not end in a title.

The A’s and Guardians each have streaks of 13 appearances, tied with that of the Dodgers that ended in 2020 for the third-longest of all time, at least for now. The A’s started in the 1990 postseason after winning the 1989 World Series. And Cleveland’s started in 1954 after qualifying in 1948. It is good to note that the Indians have the longest active drought in years without qualifying. of this postseason trip.

The other club that has an active streak of at least 10 consecutive postseason appearances without a title is the Yankees with 10. The Bombers won their last ring in 2009, and this last was just the second decade without a title for the club. Bronx since the 10s of the last century, along with the 80s, and if the first decade without even getting an LA pennant during that period.

No one would say the Yankees are a title-hungry team, with those 27 they’ve made, by far the most for any franchise. But the fact is, only two other clubs have an active string of postseason appearances without a title, which also makes it clear to us how often they make it into October.

But the beauty of sport, and especially baseball, is that every chain is bound to break. And the recent experiences of the Braves, Dodgers and Cubs should serve as a source of hope for Cleveland, Athletics and Yankees fans heading into the 2022 season.