Some honorable mentions that just missed the cut are the 1906 Cubs, 1955 Yankees, 1978 Red Sox, and the 1994 Expos. Here are the 10 best teams in MLB history not to win a World Series.
1954 Cleveland Indians:
This Indians team won 111 games and made it to the World Series, mainly because of their pitching staff, which featured three Hall of Fame pitchers: Early Winn, Bob Lemon, and Bob Feller. This is the series that featured MLB’s greatest World Series moment, with Willy Mays’ catch, simply known as “The Catch”.
1960 New York Yankees:
The 1960s began just as the 1950s ended for the Yankees, with them in the World Series. They were a far superior team than the Pittsburgh Pirates, yet found themselves on the losing end. The Yankees outscored the Pirates 55-27 over the seven games. And in the three Yankee victories, the final scores were 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0. In Pittburghs’ four wins, they only outscored the Yankees by a combined seven runs.
1969 Baltimore Orioles:
This Orioles team was a wagon, and not many people thought they’d lose to the Miracle Mets. The team boasted a 109-53 record and a +262 run differential. They featured three Hall of Famers, Brooks and Frank Robinson, as well as Jim Palmer.
1975 Boston Red Sox:
To this day, the 1975 World Series is considered one of, if not the best series of all time. It featured one of the most dramatic moments ever. In extra innings, in game 6, Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a walk-off home run that hit the foul pole to take the series to a game 7. And it took one of the game’s best teams ever, “The Big Red Machine”, Cincinnati Reds, to knock them off.
1986 Boston Red Sox:
From the mid 70’s to the mid 80’s, the Red Sox had one of the best teams in baseball…but they just could never get over the top. No season was more evident than this than the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets. The Sox were up 3-2, only having to win one more game to secure the title. The Sox were one strike away from the championship, then, in true Red Sox’ian fashion, they collapsed. Mets players had already gone to the locker room to take their uniforms off. The Shea Stadium scoreboard had already congratulated the Red Sox on the jumbotron. The Mets comeback culminated with one of the game’s biggest errors, with Bill Buckner letting the most routine ground ball go between his legs.
1988 Oakland A’s:
The A’s were stacked. They had The Bash Brothers, Mark McGwire, and Jose Conseco. They had Carney Lansford. And they had Don Baylor, Dave Parker, and Dave Henderson. And their staff was led by Dave Stewart, who won 21 games…his second of four consecutive seasons with 20 or more. The World Series against the Dodgers will be immortalized by what happened in game 1. The best closer in the game, Dennis Eckersley, came on in the ninth inning to secure the victory. Kirk Gibson wasn’t able to play due to his balky knees. He was barely able to swing a bat. Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda rolled the dice and told Gibson to pinch hit. The rest is history…Gibson managed to get the count to 3-2. He knew that Eckersley liked to throw a slider in that situation and was sitting on the pitch. He flicked the bat head out and connected. Home Run…Game Over. Even though it was game one, the season basically ended at that moment for the A’s.
1993 Atlanta Braves:
Not many teams can boast the pitching staff that the Braves had in the 90s. They had three Hall of Famers: Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Greg Maddux. But they only managed to win one World Series. In 1993, they played the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. Not many gave the Phillies a chance to beat the Braves, who won 104 games in the regular season. But Curt Schilling, who is one of the best postseason pitchers of all time, almost singlehandedly won the series for the Phillies, winding up with the MVP award.
1995 Cleveland Indians:
This team boasted one of the best lineups in history. From 1-9, they were stacked. The lineup was Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, Carlos Baerga, Albert Belle, Eddie Murray, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, (batting 7th?!?!?), Paul Sorrento, Sandy Alomar Jr. Are you kidding me?
2001 Seattle Mariners:
This Mariners team tied the 1906 Cubs team that won 116 games. And they had a run differential of +300 runs. They had two future Hall of Famers on the team: Ichiro and Edgar Martinez. They fell short of even making it to the World Series, losing to the Yankees in the ALCS.
2003 Boston Red Sox:
This Sox team was dominant, but as was the case in 1978, they couldn’t get past the Yankees. But this time, it was in the ALCS. It was game 7 in the Bronx, and Pedro Martinez was on the mound for the Sox. He gave them seven strong innings and seemingly came out of the game with a 4-2 lead, which became 5-2 after the Sox tacked on a run in the top of the eighth inning. Manager Grady Little brought him back out to start the eighth inning, and after giving up a couple of hits, decided to still keep him in. he finally took him out, but the damage was done. The Yankees put up three runs and tied the game 5-5. It went to extra innings. Time Wakefield was called up to pitch, and after a clean 10th inning, went back out for the 11th. In 1978, it was Bucky “bleeping” Dent. In 2003 it was Aaron “bleeping” Boone. He took one of Wakefield’s patented knuckleballs over the left field wall into the bleachers. Game over, Series over, and season over for the Sox.
