This article is right up my alley. I love writing about quirky subjects. Things like the best pitchers who never threw a no-hitter…Hello, Roger Clemens. Or, best golfers without a major (Patrick Cantlay?)…or best NBA players who never won a title…Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and Reggie Miller come to mind. And, of course, whenever someone thinks of the best QB without a Superbowl, Dan Marino is the first name that pops up.
This article consists of the top 15 MLB teams in history that did not win a World Series. Ten of these teams lost in the World Series. Two teams lost in the ALCS. One team lost in the NLCS. One team didn’t win because there was no World Series that season. And one team lost in a play-in game.
1906 Chicago Cubs: This is the team that featured the famous Tinker to Evers to Chance double-play combination. They were a historically great team that won 116 games. They had a run differential of +323, to go along with an all-time best team ERA of 1.75, led by Mordecai “three-finger” Brown.
1919 Chicago White Sox: This was the infamous Black Sox team that lost in the World Series to the Reds. Books have been written about this team, and movies have been made about it. And to this day, the debate rages about whether or not Shoeless Joe Jackson was part of the scandal, or knew anything about it. For my money, he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
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”.
1955 New York Yankees: The 1950s saw the Yankees win six titles. But aside from the wins, they also appeared in a few, coming up on the losing side…this was one of those seasons. They redeemed themselves the following year, defeating the same Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. But, in 1955, it was the Dodgers who prevailed.
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 they found themselves on the losing end. The Yankees outscored the Pirates 55-27 over the seven games. 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 game 7. And it took one of the game’s best teams ever, “The Big Red Machine,” Cincinnati Reds, to knock them off.
1978 Boston Red Sox: This 1978 Red Sox team is the only team on this list that didn’t even make the playoffs…technically. After blowing a 14-game lead in August, the Red Sox held on to tie the New York Yankees at the end of the season, with each team winning 99 games. There was a one-game play-in game at Fenway Park to see which team would go on to the postseason. These two teams were widely considered to be the best two teams in the game, and the 100th win for one of them would catapult them into the playoffs. This was the Bucky “Bleeping” Dent game, where the light-hitting middle infielder took Mike Torres over The Green Monster for a rare home run. The Yankees won the game and went on to win the World Series.
1986 Boston Red Sox: From the mid-70s to the mid-80s, 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 allowed the Phillies 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.
1994 Montreal Expos: The Expos were 74-40 that season and were well on their way to the playoffs and a possible World Series appearance. But the season ended prematurely on August 11th due to a strike. It became the season without a World Series, and who knows how it would have turned out for the Expos. The team did have two future Hall of Famers, Pedro Martinez and Larry Walker.
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. They had a run differential of +300 runs. The team had two future Hall of Famers, Ichiro and Edgar Martinez. However, they fell short of 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. Tim 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, 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.
All 15 of these teams were great, and in a different year, any one of them was good enough to hoist the World Series Trophy. And maybe in a parallel universe, they did…but just not in this one.