At the end of the 2026 MLB playoffs, odds are good that a team that hasn’t won a championship for a long time could hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy. Of the 18 MLB teams to go at least 21 years without a World Series championship, five are participating in this year's postseason. Let’s look at those 18 teams; for most, 2026 is already another season without a title, but for the others there's still hope that October will deliver a championship.
The last time that the Guardians were World Series champions was 1948. The last-living player from that team, Eddie Robinson, passed away in 2021. The 1948 season was so long ago that the team they defeated, the Braves, were still playing in Boston.
Cleveland has certainly had chances since 1948 to become champs once more — they lost the 1954 World Series to the New York Giants, the ‘95 Fall Classic to the Braves, ‘97’s to the Marlins and 2016’s to the Cubs, snapping Chicago’s own 107-year title drought. Cleveland also lost in the ALCS in 1998, 2007 and 2024. There have been some great teams in Cleveland in the last 30-plus years, but to this point, none of them have come away with a championship.
The 2026 iteration of the Guardians will get another chance to end the drought, though: Cleveland won its third AL Central title in three years, powered by (when healthy) third baseman José Ramírez , rookie and All-Star second baseman Travis Bazzana, outfielders Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter and a rotation led by Parker Messick. The Brewers have never won a World Series. Introduced in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, the team moved to Milwaukee and was renamed in 1970.
They first made the postseason in 1981, then lost in the World Series in ‘82. While they have made it to the playoffs nine times between 2008 and 2025, they made it to the NLCS just three times, and never beyond it — Milwaukee’s pennant drought isn’t quite as lengthy as their championship one, but it spans parts of five decades, too. The Brewers finished the 2026 regular season with the best record in baseball and Milwaukee's first-ever 100-win campaign, earning a first-round bye in this year’s postseason.
They will take on the winner of the Padres-Cubs NL Wild Card Series as they seek to end the longest title drought for any team that has never won a championship in their history… one they share with another franchise. The Padres were also brought into MLB in 1969, and they, like the Brewers, have yet to win a World Series. San Diego has made it to the Fall Classic on two occasions, both of which were unfortunate for them: in 1984, they took on the 104-win, juggernaut Tigers, and in 1998 it was one of the greatest teams ever in the 114-win Yankees.
Unsurprisingly, the Padres have a 1-8 record in World Series games. They will take on the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series in 2026, just as in 2025, with the winner going on to face the Brewers in the NL Division Series once again. It’s entirely possible that the two 1969 expansion clubs face off there, with one team bumping their years without a title figure to 58, and the other either delaying the inevitable or finally raising its first championship banner.
The Mariners are another expansion team — introduced in 1977 — that has never won a World Series. Unlike the Padres or Brewers, however, Seattle has never even made it to the Fall Classic: they made it to three AL Championship Series between 1995 and 2001, and lost all three, then repeated that feat in 2025 by falling to the Blue Jays. The 2025 season marked just the second time that the team had even made it to the playoffs since 2001’s disappointment, and the 2026 season saw Seattle finish 10 games under .500 and in third in the AL West.
The Pirates didn’t qualify for the postseason in 2026, so they are already at 47 seasons without a championship. That 1979 championship club had Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Dave Parker in the lineup, with another, Bert Blyleven, leading the rotation — and Blyleven was just third in that Bucs’ rotation in ERA, despite his ‘79 being a fine season. Pittsburgh lost three consecutive NLCS from 1991 through 1993, then failed to make it past the NLDS in three straight years from 2013 through 2015.
They haven’t made it to the postseason, otherwise, since their title in 1979, but at least finished over .500 in 2026 at 82-80. The Orioles improved on 2025's last-place finish by ending 2026 in fourth in the AL East, but Baltimore's championship drought was extended another year. The last time that Baltimore won a World Series, Cal Ripken Jr. was just 22 years old, in his second full year in the majors and all of 280 games into what would become a record 2,632 consecutive games played in the majors.
Cal Ripken Jr. retired after the 2001 season. The Tigers are a fascinating case, as they have been to the World Series 11 times and won it on four occasions, but you have to remember that the franchise has also existed since 1901, predating the World Series itself. They last won in 1984, against Tony Gwynn’s Padres, then lost the 2006 Fall Classic to the Cardinals and 2012’s to the Giants.
Detroit was expected to contend in 2026 after making it to the postseason for the second year in a row in 2025, but despite an excellent rookie campaign from infielder Kevin McGonigle, the Tigers struggled for too long this season to sustain a serious run, and sold off starters Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the deadline. The Mets suffered injuries and struggled for much of 2026, dashing postseason hopes early on — the last time that New York won the World Series was in 1986 against the Red Sox. They have had opportunities since, as they lost the World Series in 2000 against the Yankees and in 2015 against the Royals.
Here are two facts that are difficult to reconcile if you’re under 45 years old or so: Despite the lengthy drought, the A’s have more titles than the Dodgers and more than the Giants, with only the Yankees and Cardinals ahead of them. The last time the Reds won a World Series, they did so against the Athletics — Cincinnati is the reason that the A’s drought isn’t one year shorter than it is! The Reds will have to wait at least one more year, too, as the team finished in last place in the NL Central in 2026, despite the best season of star shortstop Elly De La Cruz's career.
The Twins made and won the World Series for the first time in 1987 then did it again in 1991, and have never so much as been in one since. It doesn’t help that when the team is worthy of the postseason, they often come up against the Yankees, a club that is 16-2 against them there since 2003 when they first faced off. The Twins might need to make it to meaningful October baseball in a season in which New York didn’t end up with a playoff spot in order to reverse this now 35-year-old trend.
The Rockies, unlike their expansion partner Marlins, have never won a World Series since they were brought into the league in 1993. They did make it to the 2007 Fall Classic, but were swept by the Red Sox. It might be awhile before they get another shot at ending this streak: the franchise has made the postseason just five times in 34 attempts, and has logged four-consecutive 100-loss seasons in a row, including 2025’s 119-loss campaign, which featured the third-most losses of the modern era among other historical indignities.
The Blue Jays won the 1992 and 1993 World Series, which were the only Fall Classics Toronto participated in until 2025. The Blue Jays have lost five American League Championship Series in their history — they joined MLB in 1977 — and have been swept in three AL Wild Card Series since 2020. Toronto did not get a chance at a World Series title again in 2026, as it never fully recovered from a slow start to the season, and finished in last place in the AL East, under .500 and half-a-game behind the Orioles.
The Rays were introduced to the league in 1998, and have never won a World Series. It’s not for a lack of opportunity, though: while the then-Devil Rays were famously an uncompetitive squad for the first decade of their existence, a name change in 2008 brought success. They lost in the ‘08 World Series to the Phillies and in 2020 to the Dodgers, with seven other postseason appearances besides those.
The Rays made the postseason five years in a row, from 2019 through 2023, one of the longest streaks in league history. After missing the playoffs in 2024 and 2025, Tampa Bay is back in 2026, with a first-round bye after securing the AL's best record, awaiting the result of the Yankees-Red Sox Wild Card Series. Arizona was last in the World Series in 2023, and last won in 2001 against the Yankees.
One championship in two pennants and seven postseason appearances is better than some other expansion teams have managed, but after missing the 2026 postseason by two games, the Diamondbacks have one gone 25 years without a title. Arte Moreno's ownership of the Angels ran from 2003 – the season after Los Angeles' lone World Series championship – through 2026. If the Angels win another title, it will be under another owner – possibly by a group led by Stan Kroenke, which has a deal in place to buy the team from Moreno.
The Marlins have two seasons with at least 90 wins, and in both of those Miami won the World Series. That puts them ahead of contemporary expansion teams like the Rays and Rockies, and even older ones like the Mariners, Padres and Brewers, but it's now been 23 years since the last time the Marlins won a championship. The White Sox lost over 100 games in back-to-back-to-back seasons from 2023 through 2025, stretching Chicago's championship drought to two full decades.
The White Sox are back in the postseason in 2026, however, giving them a chance at ending that streak. Chicago already became the first-ever team to reach the playoffs after consecutive 100-loss campaigns; anything is possible before the games are played.
