Useless Baseball Research

[Olympic Fan]

Watching last night's Indians-Red Sox game got me thinking about the futility of various franchises. It's been 59 years since the Indians last won the World Championship (1948) ... I realized that within the last three years, we've seen two of the three longest non-championship streaks in history broken -- the Red Sox in 2004 (86 years) and the White Sox in 2005 (88 years).

That just leaves the Cubs at 99 years and counting.

So what are the longest ACTIVE non-championship steaks. I get (* an expansion team that has NEVER won):

1. Cubs (1908-2007) -- 99 years
2. Indians (1948-06; can't count 07 yet) -- 58 years
3. Giants (1954-07) -- 53 years
4. Angels (1961-07) -- 46 years*
(tie) Senators/Rangers (1961-07) -- 46 years*
6. Astros (1962-07) -- 45 years*
7. Pilots/Brewers (1969-07) -- 38 years*
(tie) Expos/Nationals (1969-07) -- 38 years*
9. Mariners (77-07) -- 30 years*
10. Pirates (79-07) -- 28 years

Interesting to see the Giants, one of the most consistent franchises in baseball history, on the list. The Phillies and the Tigers just miss it. However, the most interesting thing to me is the futility of the teams in Texas -- a grand total of 91 years without a title.

Just because I have time on my hands, here's a list of the 10 longest futility streaks in baseball history (this time * indicates still active). BTW, I started counting early at 1901 (the first year of the world series).

1. Cubs (08-07) -- 99 years*
2. White Sox (17-05) -- 88 years
3. Red Sox (18-04) -- 86 years
4. Phillies (01-80) -- 79 years
5. Browns/Orioles (01-66) -- 65 years
6. Senators/Twins (24-87) -- 63 years
7. Indians (48-06) -- 58 years*
8. Dodgers (01-55) -- 54 years
9. Giants (1954-07) -- 53 years*
10. Angels (1961-07) -- 46 years*
(tie) Senators/Rangers (1961-07) -- 46 years*

Other streaks of at least 40 years include the Braves (14-57) 43; and the A's (30-72) 42.

I understand the frustration of the Cubs fans, but they did have a great era in the first decade of the 20th century with two WS titles and four pennants. If I had to pick the most futile franchise in baseball history, I'd go for the Phillies. They were the last of the original 16 Major League teams to win a title -- waiting 79 years until 1980 ... and they haven't won a second once since. In fact, the team went from its foundation in 1883 to 1901 without winning a title of any kind, so in reality, that's one championship in 124 years of baseball.

THAT'S futility.

At the other end of the spectrum, the longest streak for the Yankees has been 22 years -- from 1901 (when they started as the Baltimore Orioles) to their first title in 1923. Since then, their longest dry spell was 18 years.

Of course, the champion in that regard is the expansion Florida Marlins -- two titles in 14 seasons of existance. If you are a Marlins' fan (and I know there are one or two of you out there), you're longest title drought is five years.

[hurleyfor3]

Wikipedia has already done this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_L...eason_droughts

[EarlJam]

I thought the Angels won it all recently - the year of the rally monkey. No?

-EarlJam

[pfrduke]

I thought the Angels won it all recently - the year of the rally monkey. No?

-EarlJam

yep. 2002, 4-3 over the Giants. Also known as the greatest October of my life.

[Bostondevil]

The first World Series was played in 1903, not 1901 (Boston beat Pittsburgh), they didn't have one in 1904, then an unbroken streak until the '94 strike. Should streaks include years when no World Series was played?

ETA: I believe the Celtics are currently in the middle of the longest drought in their existence.