The Best Ringless MLB Teams of All Time
Jun 25 | Written By Justin Levine on The Bant House
In 1998, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the 29th and 30th teams to join the MLB. The Diamondbacks won it all just three seasons later, but Tampa Bay is one of six major league teams still waiting. The Rockies, Brewers, Padres, Mariners, and Rangers have yet to be on top of the baseball world come late October. Here is the closest that each of these franchises has come to being baseball’s champion.
2007 Colorado Rockies
This magical postseason run started with game 163. The Rockies and Padres were tied for the NL wild-card spot. The game would go 13 innings and end with controversy. In the bottom of the 13th, Jamey Carroll slapped a ball into right field. As the outfielder caught it, Matt Holliday was coming home with the game winning run. Holliday slid home, the catcher dropped the ball, and the Rockies were headed to Philadelphia. However, upon a closer look, Holliday never touched home plate. Luckily for the Rockies, instant replay was nonexistent, and their magical October run had begun. They breezed through the National League, going 7-0 against the Phillies and Diamondbacks, to set up a match up with Boston. The underdogs from Colorado were no match, as the Red Sox swept them aside 4-0. This offensive juggernaut, led by Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton and Holliday, was the best team in Rockies history.
1982 Milwaukee Brewers
It has been a long time since the Brewers were in the world series. Their only appearance in franchise history came back when they competed in the AL East. After winning the division, they knocked off the Angels in the first round to get to the championship. Milwaukee, led by the left side of the infield of Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, got as close as any team could possibly get. They pushed the Cardinals to Game 7, but lost 6-3 in St. Louis. Even though they won 96 games in 2018, the Brewers have not been back to the world series since ‘82.
1998 San Diego Padres
The Padres had what it took to win it all in 1998, but their path to the championship was incredibly difficult. After knocking off the 102-win Astros in four games, they had to face the 106-win Braves. It was Tony Gwynn’s best chance to win a world series and the Padres did not back down. Gwynn and slugger Greg Vaughn, who hit 50 home runs that season, led the Friars to knock off Atlanta in 6. It would only get harder from there. Next came the Yankees, who had just sent a franchise record with 114 wins. San Diego did not have much of a shot, and even though Kevin Brown threw a great game 4, the Yankees won the series handedly.
2001 Seattle Mariners
Our team of the week represents the only franchise to never appear in the world series. The Mariners have been chasing the excitement of ‘01 ever since, but that year was special. Seattle tied an MLB record with 116 wins and had hopes and expectations bigger than they had ever dreamed. The lineup was stacked: Brett Boone led the way with 37 homers and 141 RBI’s, but Edgar Martinez, Mike Cameron, and John Olerud were close behind. Oh yeah, and they had Ichiro. 2001 was the rookie season for the Japanese phenom, but he took home rookie of the year and MVP honors in the American League. The pitching staff, led by Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia, was iffy, but effective. Seattle beat Cleveland in the Division series, thanks to Moyer and Cameron coming up clutch in Game 5. Next, another team on this list was ousted by the Yankees. 3 of the 4 Yankee wins were in two or one run games, but nevertheless, the Mariners world series hopes had been squashed. Seattle still has not rebounded, as they hold the longest postseason drought in any of the Big 4 sports.
2008 Tampa Bay Rays
The ‘08 Rays went 97-65 during the regular season and took home their first AL East crown in franchise history. Led by young guns Evan Longoria, Carlos Peña, and Carl Crowford, the Rays were feisty. Pair that with the fact that the success story of manager Joe Maddon was just beginning. They handled the White Sox in four games. Soon after, they began an unbelievable series with their rival Red Sox. After dropping Game 1, Tampa tied the series on a walk-off sacrifice fly from BJ Upton. They won the series in 7, as Matt Garza threw a gem and David Price, a closer at the time, sealed the deal. They went on to play the Phillies who were making their first of consecutive world series appearances. The scrappy fight of Tampa wasn’t enough, as they lost in five games.
2011 Texas Rangers
The Rangers have to be the saddest team on this list. After losing to the Giants in the 2010 world series, they made it again. In 2011, Adrian Beltre and Ian Kinsler each hit 32 home runs and Josh Hamilton would have hit more, if not for an injury. Even though an MLB season is 162 games long plus playoffs, one game stood out for Texas in 2011. They went through Tampa Bay and Detroit on the American League side and matched up with the St. Louis Cardinals. After splitting the first four games, the Rangers won Game 5 to take a commanding 3-2 series lead. After Neftali Feliz struck out Allen Craig, the Rangers were one out away. Up 7-5 in the bottom of the 9th, this is where it all went downhill. With two runners on, David Freese flied a ball to deep right field that was just out of the reach of Nelson Cruz. Both runners scored and the game was knotted at 7. No worries though, Hamilton slugged a two-run shot in the 10th innings to put Texas back ahead by two runs. In the bottom half, Lance Berkman came up with two outs and two on, and singled up the middle to tie the game. The Rangers had blown two, two-run, two-out, two-strike leads in just two innings! Once the bottom of the 11th hit, David Freese made sure St. Louis would see a Game 7. The heroics of Freese allowed the Cardinals to force just that. They took that momentum to beat Texas 6-2 in the deciding game. The Rangers have not been back to the world series since.