List of Major League Baseball franchise postseason droughts

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "List of Major League Baseball franchise postseason droughts" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Throughout the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), franchises have had various postseason and World Series droughts.

All 16 of the original Major League franchises (i.e., those in place when the first World Series was played in 1903) have won the World Series, with the longest wait for a franchise's first championship being for the Phillies (77 seasons, ending in 1980). Since expansion began in 1961, five of the 14 expansion teams have never won the World Series. Furthermore, one franchise, the Cleveland Guardians, currently has a championship drought that pre-dates the expansion era. The three longest championship droughts in history were ended recently by the Red Sox (86 seasons, ending in 2004), the White Sox (88 seasons, ending in 2005), and the Cubs (108 seasons, ending in 2016).

Only one expansion franchise (the Seattle Mariners) has never won a pennant (i.e., the league championship, the two winners of which meet in the World Series). The three longest pennant droughts in history were recently ended by the Nationals (51 years, starting with the team's foundation and ending in 2019, and including the franchise's entire 36 years as the Montreal Expos), the Rangers (49 years, starting with the team's foundation and ending in 2010) and the Cubs (70 years, ending in 2016). As the Nationals are the third franchise to be based in the city of Washington, their 2019 pennant also ended a drought of 53 seasons played in Washington since their last pennant, which was in 1933 (discounting the 33 seasons during which there was no team in Washington).

As of the 2023 season, every active MLB franchise has qualified for the playoffs, especially since expansion of the playoffs in 1994 made that feat easier. The Tigers and the Angels are tied with the longest active postseason drought at 8 years while the Cincinnati Reds have the longest active postseason series-win drought at 27 years.^[1] Long postseason droughts were ended recently by the Nationals (30 years for the franchise, 45 seasons over 78 years for the city, ending in 2012), the Pirates (20 years, ending in 2013), the Royals (28 years, ending in 2014), the Blue Jays (21 years, ending in 2015), the Mariners (21 years, ending in 2022), and the Phillies (11 years, ending in 2022).

This list includes only the modern World Series between the American League (AL) and the National League (NL), not the various 19th-century championship series. Those teams which have never achieved a particular accomplishment in their franchise history are listed by the date they entered the leagues.