The Seattle Mariners snapped one of the longest playoff droughts ever, making it into the MLB postseason for the first time in two decades. Some believe a curse is a reason for this title drought. The Bengals have been 1-8 in eight post-season appearances and have not played in a title game since losing Super Bowl XXIII in 1988-89. Between the NHLs Sabres (established 1970) and the NFLs Bills (established 1960), Buffalo has never experienced a sports championship in 62 years of having teams. The Game 1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals also represented the Phillies first playoff victory since Game 3 in the 2011 NLDS on Oct. 4, 2011. 10 of those cities have seen at least 2 teams total (in 2 different sports) win a championship ; 10 have seen at least 1 championship since 2010; 11 have seen at least 1 team win a championship since 2000 Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports. In that span since the 1984 title, theyve also found themselves on the precipice of the World Series three additional times -- losing the ALCS in 2013, 2011 and 1987. Led by quarterback Stan Humphries, the Chargers came back from a 13-3 deficit to win 17-13. The Kings haven't won a Stanley Cup . Minnesota's dry spell extends nearly 25 years, all the way back to . The team would move to Dallas in 1993, with the Minnesota Wild debuting in 2000. The Seattle Mariners snapped one of the longest playoff droughts ever, making it into the MLB postseason . Manchester United are middle of the pack when it comes to the longest trophy droughts ever suffered by the 20 current Premier League clubs. Buffalo Last Title: Never There are long-suffering franchises and fan bases across American sports. San Diego is the nations 17th largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of 3,337,685. The other seven clubs (Cardinals, Lions, Oilers/Titans, Chargers, Browns, Bills, and Vikings) all won an NFL or AFL championship prior to the AFLNFL merger; in the case of the Vikings, however, the Super Bowl existed at the time they won their only league title (in 1969), leaving them and the Falcons as the only two teams to have never won the highest championship available to them. The last championship in San Diego was the 1963 AFL Championship where the Chargers beat the Boston Patriots 51-10. . Of course, the NHL playoffs werent as kind to others. In 1995, Charlotte became home to the NFL Panthers who have had much greater success, including making it to the NFC Championship game in their second year. Milwaukee is the 39th largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of 1,576,236. With their Game 7 win in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers became the first professional sports team in Cleveland to win a championship in 52 years ending what had been the longest drought between . The Buffalo Sabres made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in only their 5th season in 1974-75, led by Hall of Fame Center Gilbert Perreault They lost to the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers 4-2, who clinched Game 6 in Buffalo with a 2-0 win. Cincinnati is the 29th largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of 2,179,082. Here are the longest championship droughts in the four major American professional sports. The last Buffalo championship was in 1965 when the Bills won their second consecutive AFL title with a 23-0 win over the San Diego Chargers led by quarterback Jack Kemp (who would go on to be a New York Congressman). For example, Canadathe birthplace of hockeyis home to seven cities with NHL franchises, but none of them have brought home a Stanley Cup in the last 30 years. A citys sports misfortunes can come in different forms. But the tide turned with a name change and new colors in 2008, when the franchise enjoyed a 31-win turnaround and claimed its first pennant before losing to the Phillies in five games in the World Series. Your email address will not be published. Neither the Reds nor the Bengals have played in a Championship Game since then. . As a one-sport city, Sacramento lives and dies by its Kings. Despite fielding nine teams, the most of any city in the country, New York has not won a title in nearly nine years, almost 3,200 days. This list only shows droughts of 30 or more seasons for teams. Jacksonvilles debut as a pro-sports city came in 1970 when the American Basketball Associations The Floridians played some of their games in Jacksonville as a regional franchise in 1970 and 1971. Further ties were broken by the team with the most active professional sports franchises. This is a list of current National Football League (NFL) franchise post-season and Super Bowl droughts (multiple consecutive seasons of not winning). The Blue Jays' drought continued to grow in 2022 after they lost in the Wild Card Series to the Mariners. The Padres made the playoffs for the second time in the last three seasons in 2022 and upset the Mets and Dodgers to reach the NLCS. Winning a championship, regardless of league, is no easy feat. They have not won a playoff series since then. Over the last 25 years, 62.7% of cities have won a championship in either the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, or MLS. That 10-year drought is twice as long as anyone else in the NFL, as the Cardinals, Bengals and Broncos have all most . A championship is listed as winning an NFL Championship (19201969), AFL Championship (19601969), and Super Bowl Championship (1966present). Jacksonville has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Newark was the, The most recent championship for New Orleans was the, There have been no championships in Columbus history. Nashville has 2 active teams, the, The most recent championship for Portland was the, The most recent championship for Dallas was the, There have been no championships in Salt Lake City history. When the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, they ended a 108-year drought and broke one of baseball's most famous curses. Led by Dwight Howard, the Magic stunned LeBron James and the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in six games. 6 seed. The city of Los Angeles has the longest championship drought of any NBA city. Your email address will not be published. The City of Minneapolis (1991-Present): No Minneapolis franchise has claimed a championship in 25 years, excluding three, maybe four WNBA titles . Still, 15 of the 30 teams have gone at least the past 25 seasons -- since MLB's most recent expansion in 1998 -- without winning the World Series. See where the Miami Dolphins rank among the current longest title droughts in American major sports. The Padres have the distinction of holding the longest championship drought that no one gives a shit about. The 10 longest championship droughts in professional sports. Three more MLB teams have World Series droughts that extend 50-plus years: the. The Bucks were in their third year as a franchise and were led by MVP Kareen Abdul-Jabbar in his second season, Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson and the great power forward Bob Dandridge. Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) celebrates leading the Bucks to the NBA championship Tuesday night. The Cleveland Cavaliers snapped a 52-year championship drought June 19, 2016, when they toppled the Golden State Warriors in a best-of-seven series. Total professional sports championships: 18. Entering Week 18, the Giants have only their second winning season in 10 yers. But there is one important caveat: most of these cities have not had pro sports franchises for very long. The club they defeated, the Indians, still maintains the record for the longest World Series drought in baseball history. In our first installment, we covered franchise championship conference titles, conference finals, and playoff appearance droughts, with theArizona Cardinals (71 years), Cleveland Indians (70), Sacramento Kings (67), Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues (50) having the longest droughts in their respective leagues. Between the NHLs Sabres (established 1970) and the NFLs Bills (established 1960), Buffalo has never experienced a sports championship in 62 years of having teams. With the Mariners getting the monkey off their back, here are the 12 active longest postseason droughts between the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL . The longest drought since a championship of any kind is that of the Cardinals, at 75 seasons. Toronto Star via Getty Images. And here are the 10 longest World Series title droughts in MLB history that are no longer active (going back to the inaugural World Series in 1903): Cubs: 107 years (1909-2016)White Sox: 87 years (1918-2005)Red Sox: 85 years (1919-2004)Phillies: 77 years (1903-80)Orioles/Browns: 63 years (1903-66)Twins/Senators: 62 years (1925-87)Astros: 55 years (1962-2017)Giants: 55 years (1955-2010)Dodgers: 52 years (1903-55)Nationals/Expos: 50 years (1969-2019), MLB-record streak of elimination-game losses. Listed here are both appearance droughts and winning droughts in almost every level of the NFL playoff system. Atlanta Hawks - 63 years. Last championship in the city: New York Giants (2012), or for Brooklyn specifically, the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. Buffalo, who has Here is how they compare to those 12. The Yankees swept the Padres, clinching Game 4 at Qualcomm Stadium. Here are the US and Canadian metros with the longest active championship droughts. The Celtic defense, however, shut the Bucks down in the fourth quarter of Game 7 as they cruised to a 102-87 win. Required fields are marked *. 1. Ultimately, they were passed over for another city with a similar drought, only this city has four teams rather than two. In 2001, the NBAs Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis after six seasons and a dismal 101-359 (.219) record. The team has two WNBA Finals appearances in its history: 2008 and 2020. They lost the championship the following season and did not reach the championship game for 60 years before falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl LIII. The Kings lost Game 6 in Los Angeles 106-102 in a controversial game that many have claimed demonstrates that the league wanted to ensure that the marquee Lakers and not the small-market Kings reached the NBA Finals; as in the final minutes, all foul calls and non-calls went the Lakers way. The franchise was originally based in Los Angeles, but moved to Oakland prior to the 1982 season. Only locations with at least one currently active professional sports team were considered in the analysis. Jacksonville is the nations 40th largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of1,504,980. The Bobcats, however, do have the distinction of having the worst record in NBA history in the strike-shortened 2012 season when they went a horrid 7-59 (.106). How else could he watch one to two films every day? Athletics: 33 seasons (Last title in 1989)The As have enjoyed as many dynastic runs as any team outside the Yankees over the breadth of Major League history, but the last three decades have been a dry period in Oakland. 12. A puck that rebounds off the goalie, the goal post or an opposing player is not deemed to be a change of possession, and therefore Hull would be deemed to be in possession or control of the puck, allowed to shoot and score a goal even though the one foot would be in the crease in advance of the puck. When the Cubs rallied from a 3-1 World Series deficit and then broke a 6-6 tie in the 10th inning Wednesday, they broke, as we all know, the longest championship . Since then they have had only 7 winning seasons and 4 playoff appearances, never getting past the second round (most recently in 2017-18 when they lost 34-14 to the defending champion New England Patriots). In fact, the last time Toronto hosted an Eastern Conference finals game came in 2002. Updated But the magic hasnt been sufficient enough in the years since, though the Mets did enjoy plenty of memorable moments during their NL pennant runs in 2000 and 15. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers are now at a 27-year championship drought. Sacramento has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Miami was the, The most recent championship for Ottawa was the, There have been no championships in Orlando history. Longest championship title droughts in NBA history. The defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins won the series 4-2. Salt Lake City has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Montreal was the, There have been no championships in Sacramento history. Orlando has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Calgary was the, The most recent championship for Indianapolis was the, The most recent championship for Edmonton was the, There have been no championships in San Jose history. We also cover VPNs, internet providers & more. The Detroit Red Wings brought the last major championship home to the Motor City ten . Brewers/Pilots: 54 seasons (No titles)After one season in Seattle, the franchise moved to Milwaukee in 1970. Vancouver has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Detroit was the, There have been no championships in Nashville history.