World Series history/observations

[JoeBlank]

My loony idea for dealing with this is to go back to a 154 game season, and make all three rounds of the playoffs best-of-9. Unfortunately, this would mean the Yankees win the World Series more often -- until they realized that yes, the Yankees do have unfair advantage, and put in a real salary cap.

I'd be happy with a 7-game division series. It makes no sense for the first round of the playoffs to be even more random than the later rounds.

 

[BOZ]

Decided to dig a little deeper. here are all the non-championship droughts that have gone 20 years or more.

At first I thought that the Yankees would be the only franchise that has existed for at least 20 years that has not had a 20+ year losing streak. Then I recalled that they were far from the best team in their early days, and it took them 20 years of not winning the World Series before they finally got it.

As I was going, I noticed that the Blue Jays, founded in 1977 and winning their first in 1992, are indeed the only team older than 20 years to not have a 20+ year streak. Of course, if they don’t get it by 2012… they (and a few of the newer teams too, perhaps) will join the club.

Note that for the sake of ease on my part, I went with the franchise’s current team name and city. Also, the first World Series as we know it was in 1903, so I started there for the sake of franchises like the Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, Tigers, Twins, Braves, Indians, and Orioles who might otherwise be struck with longer streaks in their early years.

Chicago Cubs: 1909-present (98 straight seasons)
Chicago White Sox: 1918-2004 (87)
Boston Red Sox: 1919-2003 (85)
Philadelphia Phillies: 1903-1979 (77)
Baltimore Orioles: 1903-1965 (63)
Minnesota Twins: 1925-1986 (62)
Cleveland Indians: 1949-present (58)
San Francisco Giants: 1955-present (52)
Los Angeles Dodgers: 1903-1954 (52)
Texas Rangers: 1961-present (46)
Houston Astros: 1962-present (45)
Atlanta Braves: 1915-1956 (42)
Oakland Athletics: 1932-1971 (40)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 1961-2001 (41)
Washington Nationals: 1969-present (38)
Milwaukee Brewers: 1969-present (38)
San Diego Padres: 1969-present (38)
Atlanta Braves: 1958-1995 (38)
Pittsburg Pirates: 1926-1959 (34)
Cincinnati Reds: 1941-1974 (34)
Detroit Tigers: 1903-1934 (32)
Seattle Mariners: 1977-present (30)
Pittsburg Pirates: 1980-present (27)
Cleveland Indians: 1921-1947 (27)
Philadelphia Phillies: 1981-present (26)
Baltimore Orioles: 1984-present (23)
St. Louis Cardinals: 1903-1925 (23)
St. Louis Cardinals: 1983-2005 (23)
Detroit Tigers: 1985-present (22)
Detroit Tigers: 1946-1967 (22)
Kansas City Royals: 1986-present (21)
Minnesota Twins: 1903-1923 (21)
New York Mets: 1987-present (20)
New York Yankees: 1903-1922 (20)
Cincinnati Reds: 1920-1939 (20)
San Francisco Giants: 1934-1953 (20)

(Edited to reflect Cardinals' WS victory in 2006)

 

[johnsemlak]

Remember that before the first baseball expansion (in 1961, IIRC?), there were only 16 Major League teams, so winning the WS was theoretically a 1-in-16 shot. Now there are about 30 teams, so theoretically winning a title is that much harder (and with several expansion teams already having won the WS, like the Marlins twice, I'd say this is true). Thus, the championship droughts should be getting longer, again, in theory.

 

[dragonhead]

St. Louis Cardinals: 1983-2006 (23)
Detroit Tigers: 1985-present (22)
QUOTE]

There you go, a more accurate account

 

[BOZ]

Remember that before the first baseball expansion (in 1961, IIRC?), there were only 16 Major League teams, so winning the WS was theoretically a 1-in-16 shot. Now there are about 30 teams, so theoretically winning a title is that much harder (and with several expansion teams already having won the WS, like the Marlins twice, I'd say this is true). Thus, the championship droughts should be getting longer, again, in theory.

indeed! go back and look at that post and see the ratio of current droughts to settled ones. nearly half of the ones i listed are still ongoing! and then go look at my first post; over the next decade you'l be adding the Dodgers, A's, Reds, Twins (3 of which were in the playoffs this year, and the Reds weren't far out), Rockies, Blue Jays, and Braves to that list if they don't capture a title, plus almost certainly the Devil Rays soon to follow. granted, i wouldn't be surprsied if some of the ongoing droughts i listed above will be settled by then, but we'll probably be adding more than we'll be taking away!

St. Louis Cardinals: 1983-2006 (23)
Detroit Tigers: 1985-present (22)
QUOTE]

There you go, a more accurate account

i'm going to go back and edit my two above posts.

 

[BOZ]

St. Louis Cardinals: 1983-2006 (23)

There you go, a more accurate account

oh, and since i was only counting years in which the team did NOT win, you'll see 1983-2005 above.

 

[dragonhead]

Cool

 

[BOZ]

and there you go. next year, as they say, is a whole new ballgame!

 

[dragonhead]

Go Cardinals.