These eight teams most urgently need a World Series title

Congratulations to the Houston Astros on their title. One of the great things about winning a World Series is that it’s the culmination of a process: all the problems and rough patches that a franchise and its fans had to deal with over the years before winning a World Series. World cease to be “painful memories” and become an “interesting backstory.” Your team’s woes vanish in an instant. Everything hurts, until it stops.

Now that the Astros have given their fans a moment of peace, it’s bound to ask: Who’s next? What legion of fans needs more of a moment like this?

To set the parameters for this exercise, we’re going to focus on teams that have gone a long time (or at least a lot of years as far as their fans are concerned) without winning a title and have recently reached the postseason or are on the verge of doing so. . Teams like the Orioles, the Pirates, or even the Tigers, it’s true, their fans are also desperate for a crown, but…well, we’d better get them to the playoffs first.

Here are the eight most suffered.

I know it seems a little ridiculous to put the Dodgers at No. 1: Didn’t they win the World Series two years ago? Well, yes, they did, but there is no doubt that the “bubble” championship is (unfairly, I would say) considered more “random” than any other title. But, in addition, the Dodgers have the best team in baseball year after year, but beyond that season in which there was no one in the stands to see them (beyond the World Series itself, in Texas), they always stay short in the postseason.

The Dodgers aren’t going to be able to keep winning all the time, season after season — right? TRUE? — which means they have to win a World Series for them to stop bugging them. It’s tasty being the 90’s Braves: You win every year! But the first thing people think of when they talk about those Braves isn’t every game they’ve won; it’s in every postseason series they’ve lost. The Dodgers desperately need to avoid that fate.

No one knows what would have happened if the Guardians got past the Yankees and challenged the Astros in the ALCS, but if they had, it would have been their first trip to the ALCS since coming within a whisker of winning the World Series in 2016 and only the second time they have succeeded in this century. That’s a problem for a franchise with as much history as Cleveland, which has seen so many years go by since they last won a World Series. The drought will reach 75 years next season if Cleveland is not crowned. That, obviously, is the longest titleless streak in baseball, essentially four generations of fans who have never seen their team win a World Series.

Can the Guardians ever replicate what the Cubs, White Sox and Red Sox have already done? You can’t blame her fans for asking the question.

The Brewers have played in only one World Series (in 1982) and lost it to the Cardinals, who are now a division rival. But it’s worth noting that the Brewers’ recent winning years is the best time in franchise history, even given how disappointingly they finished this year. But they’ve still lost four postseason series in a row, starting with a seven-game setback against the Dodgers in the 2018 NLCS.

The Brewers have one of the most loyal fans in all of baseball, a talented pitching staff and a front office — even with David Stearns now in an advisory role — that has shown they know what they’re doing. But they still haven’t won a World Series, one of the few teams in MLB that hasn’t. Is your window about to close? If he does, how long will it be until he opens up again?

They had a good vibe this year, before the final weeks of the season and then the Wild Card Series loss to the Padres. It’s now been 36 years without a title, but owner Steve Cohen and manager Buck Showalter did everything they could to stop them from being the butt of jokes. But that would continue to be the case — at least it will be looming — until the Mets win a World Series.

Well, no one will ever feel bad for Bombers fans: No other team is even half as close to the total number of titles as New York. (If the Yankees go another 100 years without being champions, they’d probably still be first in rings.) But there have been two other times when they’ve gone 13 straight seasons without even reaching the World Series: From the Fall Classic debut in 1903 to the team’s first appearance in 1921, and from 1982 to 1985. see the desperation of the fans, the managers and even everyone in the clubhouse.

How many more years will it be without another title before the Yankees lose their pecking order? Many can make fun of the Yankees because they’ve had it all, but if they lose their mystique, what puts them in a class apart?

Another squad that has never been champion. In fact, the last three sets on this list don’t have a title. The Friars would be higher on this list if they hadn’t taken the first step toward a title this year by finally beating the Dodgers in the NLDS.

Los Angeles has been his biggest nightmare, and while the Padres couldn’t continue their success to reach their third World Series, they should feel more optimistic about their campaign and their chances of advancing right now than when we learned of the infielder’s suspension. Fernando Tatis Jr. They will have the shortstop early next season, joining a club that knows it can beat the Dodgers. Now the Padres will have to do it again…and then beat the others.

A quick stint through the postseason this year was his fourth straight playoff appearance after five years out. But now that they’re qualifying every year, they’re developing their own reputation for coming up short in the postseason. The Rays, like the Brewers, are in their best stretch in franchise history, but also like Milwaukee, that doesn’t mean much if they never get to the next level. Considering that Tampa Bay in 2022 won 14 fewer games than it did last year (which was in fact after they advanced to the World Series), some might wonder if they’re taking steps backwards.

Congratulations Sailors! They graduated from the “team with the longest postseason drought in North American professional sports” to “No. 8 with the most eager fans for a title”. It can be considered as progress. Of course, the Seattle club is in a category that doesn’t include any other team on this list, or anyone else in the Majors: They’ve never played in a World Series. So that must happen first. They will know the real pain if they lose a Fall Classic.