Chances are good that, at the end of the 2025 MLB postseason, a team that hasn’t won a championship for a very long time is going to hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy. That’s because, of the 14 teams that haven’t won a World Series for at least 25 years now, seven of them are in this one postseason.
Let’s look at every team in MLB that has gone at least 25 years without a championship, with the 2025 season included for those that have already been eliminated from ending their drought this October.
Cleveland Guardians, 75 seasons (1948)
The last time that the Guardians were World Series champions was 1948. The last-living player from that team, Eddie Robinson, passed away in 2021. The 1948 season was so long ago that the team they defeated, the Braves, were still playing in Boston.
Cleveland has certainly had chances since 1948 to become champs once more — they lost the 1954 World Series to the New York Giants, the ‘95 Fall Classic to the Braves, ‘97’s to the Marlins and 2016’s to the Cubs, snapping Chicago’s own 107-year title drought. Cleveland also lost in the ALCS in 1998, 2007 and 2024. There have been some great teams in Cleveland in the last 30-plus years, but to this point, none of them have come away with a championship.
The Jose Ramirez-led 2025 edition of the team will get a chance to end this drought, though, as they won the AL Central and will take on the rival Detroit Tigers in the AL Wild Card Series.
Milwaukee Brewers, 56 seasons
Christian Yelich helped power the Brewers to the best record in MLB in 2025. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
The Brewers have never won a World Series. Introduced in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, the team moved to Milwaukee and was renamed in 1970. They first made the postseason in 1981, then lost in the World Series in ‘82. While they have made it to the playoffs eight times between 2008 and 2024, they made it to the NLCS just twice, and never beyond it — Milwaukee’s pennant drought isn’t quite as lengthy as their championship one, but it spans parts of five decades, too.
The Brewers finished the 2025 regular season with the best record in baseball and a franchise-high 97 wins, earning a first-round bye in this year’s postseason. They will take on the winner of the Padres-Cubs NL Wild Card Series as they seek to end the longest title drought for any team that has never won a championship in their history… one they share with another franchise.
San Diego Padres, 56 seasons
The Padres were also brought into MLB in 1969, and they, like the Brewers, have yet to win a World Series. San Diego has made it to the Fall Classic on two occasions, both of which were unfortunate for them: in 1984, they took on the 104-win, juggernaut Tigers, and in 1998 it was one of the greatest teams ever in the 114-win Yankees. Unsurprisingly, the Padres have a 1-8 record in World Series games.
They will take on the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series in 2025, with the winner going on to face the Brewers in the NL Division Series — it’s entirely possible that the two 1969 expansion clubs face off then, with one team bumping their years without a title figure to 57, and the other either delaying the inevitable or finally writing a zero on this depressing whiteboard.
Seattle Mariners, 48 seasons
Josh Naylor turned out to be one of the major trade deadline acquisitions in 2025. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Mariners are another expansion team — introduced in 1977 — that has never won a World Series. Unlike the Padres or Brewers, however, Seattle has never even made it to the Fall Classic: they made it to three AL Championship Series between 1995 and 2001, and lost all three. The 2025 season marks just the second time that the team has even made it to the playoffs since 2001’s disappointment: they will face the winners of the Guardians-Tigers AL Wild Card Series, as they attempt to successfully earn a couple of franchise firsts in October.
Pittsburgh Pirates, 46 seasons (1979)
The Pirates didn’t qualify for the postseason in 2025, so they are already at 46 seasons without a championship. That 1979 championship club had Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Dave Parker in the lineup, with another, Bert Blyleven, leading the rotation — and Blyleven was just third in that Bucs’ rotation in ERA, despite his ‘79 being a fine season.
Pittsburgh lost three consecutive NLCS from 1991 through 1993, then failed to make it past the NLDS in three straight years from 2013 through 2015. They haven’t made it to the postseason, otherwise, since their title in 1979.
Baltimore Orioles, 42 seasons (1983)
The Orioles finished in last place in the AL East in 2025, extending their championship drought another year. The last time that Baltimore won a World Series, Cal Ripken Jr. was just 22 years old, in his second full year in the majors and all of 280 games into what would become a record 2,632 consecutive games played in the majors. Cal Ripken Jr. retired after the 2001 season.
Detroit Tigers, 40 seasons (1984)
The Tigers are a fascinating case, as they have been to the World Series 11 times and won it on four occasions, but you have to remember that the franchise has also existed since 1901, predating the World Series itself. They last won in 1984, against Tony Gwynn’s Padres, then lost the 2006 Fall Classic to the Cardinals and 2012’s to the Giants.
Detroit made the postseason for the second year in a row in 2025, and will take on the Guardians, the AL Central’s winner after the Tigers nearly collapsed out of the playoff picture entirely, in the AL Wild Card Series.
New York Mets, 39 seasons (1986)
The Mets were eliminated on the final day of the 2025 season, bumping their streak to 39 years — the last time that New York won the World Series was in 1986 against the Red Sox. They have had opportunities since, as they lost the World Series in 2000 against the Yankees and in 2015 against the Royals.
Athletics, 36 seasons (1989)
Here are two facts that are difficult to reconcile if you’re under 45 years old or so:
- The Athletics have not won a World Series since 1989, 36 seasons ago now after already being eliminated in 2025, and
- The Athletics are tied with the Boston Red Sox for the third-most World Series championships in MLB history, with nine.
