It snaps a decade-long absence from October baseball, a step in the right direction for the franchise. The Maple Leafs have now gone 55 years without being crowned NHL champions. The Longest NFL Championship Droughts The wait can be miserable. We see many teams continuing their hist. Buffalos drought tops the next-highest city by nine years, and only two other cities besides Buffalo have championship droughts longer than 50 years. 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. One of two teams from Cleveland on the list, the Guardians not only hold the longest drought, but also have the most championship appearances of any team on this list with . While the Cardinals appeared in Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, their lone Super Bowl appearance, this organization has never hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. The Philadelphia Phillies snuck into the postseason thanks to the added No. The NBA team with the longest championship drought is the sad-Sack-ramento Kings, who last won the league championship in 1951 as the (wait for it) Rochester Royals . Fans growing up as children hoping desperately to see their favorite club they were raised to support one day lift the banner declaring the champions. The City of Minneapolis (1991-Present): No Minneapolis franchise has claimed a championship in 25 years, excluding three, maybe four WNBA titles . Here are the longest title droughts among the remaining NBA playoff teams, starting with the longest. The Mariners last made the playoffs in 2001, an unforgettable season for the team. Of course, we saw two of the longest MLB playoff droughts end this year. 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 . 11/4/2016. The 2007-08 Celtics rolled to a stop-the-insanity 131-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on June 17, 2008, after which no Boston team would win a championship until . Pottsville won the game 21-7, a win that should have secured the championship. Despite having a team in each of the five major sports, it has been more than three decades since Minnesota last saw a title, when the MLBs Twins won in 1991. Each season begins with optimism across the 30 MLB fanbases, and each one ends with some level of disappointment for 29 of them. Nashville is the nations 36th largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of 1,903,045. This list only shows droughts of 30 or more seasons for teams. After the Cav's NBA championship last night, the city that's endured the most seasons without a major sport championship is San Diego. DID YOU KNOW?FuboTV offers 38+ sports-oriented channels, which is why it might be the best option for live TV for sports fans. The Bills lost all four Super Bowls, with the closest one being in the 1990-91 season when Scott Norwoods potential game-winning 47-yard field goal attempt with 8-seconds remaining was wide by a foot. The Chargers were 19-point underdogs against Steve Young and San Francisco 49ers, who jumped to a 42-10 lead and coasted to a 49-26 win. Counted from the first Super Bowl season, 1966, to present. The data was sourced from pro-football-reference.com, basketball-reference.com, baseball-reference.com, hockey-reference.com, and fbref.com. For some fans, however, hope all is all they have had for too long. Its also an essential tool for getting the most out of your streaming services. Sacramento Kings - 71 years. and, in a few cases, century-long curses. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); HotDog is the internet's oldest guide to cordcutting, replacing expensive cable or satellite TV with cheaper or free live stream and OTA options. Its one thing to never hoist the championship trophy and witness a parade, but not even experiencing the brief second of joy from a playoff game makes rooting for teams even more painful. Minnesota United has yet to make the playoffs in two seasons of play in the MLS. A handful of teams have finally gotten over the hump in recent years and ended decade-long and, in a few cases, century-long curses. Twins: 31 seasons (Last title in 1991)The days of Jack Morris, Kirby Puckett and the "Homer Hanky" are growing further and further into the rearview mirror for the Twins. Despite owning a dominant team, the Lakers have yet to win an NBA championship since 1988. The franchises most recent Hall of Famer, Mike Piazza, was 18 years old when the Mets won it all in 86. It could be a decades-long, mythic streak of losing, like the 86- and 108-year World Series droughts of the Boston Red Sox (ended in 2004) and the Chicago Cubs (ended in 2016). Ottawa. It has been an essential part of our streaming toolkit for years. The franchise will hope to find a new quarterback in 2023, someone who can finally take this team back to the playoffs. 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. They were followed by the World Football Leagues Jacksonville Sharks/Express (defunct), the NASLs Jacksonville Tea Men (defunct), the United States Football Leagues Jacksonville Bulls (defunct) and them, finally, the NFLs Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. Sadly for hockey fans in Philly, the Philadelphia Flyers arent far behind. Tom Brady, however, drove the Patriots 37 yards to set up the game-winning Adam Vinatieri 41 yard field goal. The Rays pushed the Dodgers one game further in '20, but still came up short in six games. Researchers at HotDog.com ranked U.S. and Canadian metropolitan areas according to active professional sports championship droughts, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS. The second came in 1948 with manager Lou Boudreau calling the shots and Bob Lemon and Bob Feller manning the mound. Of course, the NHL playoffs werent as kind to others. In their last appearance, the Vikings were playing for a chance to play in the Super Bowl to be held in Minneapolis. Columbus has only one active team, the, There have been no championships in Memphis history. 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. 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). Cleveland last won a championship 69 years ago, in 1948. It also has struggled with its back against the wall. The Mariners have gone 20 years without reaching the MLB playoffs, it is the longest active postseason drought in the top four American mens sports. Your email address will not be published. They have not made the playoffs since then. San Jose has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Chicago was the, There have been no championships in Winnipeg history. However, they were stripped of the title and the Maroons were suspended by the NFL for playing an exhibition game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. breaking their respective curses this century, the longest World Series drought now belongs to the Cleveland Guardians. Ten teams have multiple losing streaks where they lost an equal number of post season games before breaking the drought. HotDog.com Blog Cities With the Longest Active Championship Droughts. Cleveland Guardians (MLB) - 73 years. Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports. The data was sourced from pro-football-reference.com, basketball-reference.com, baseball-reference.com, hockey-reference.com, and fbref.com. Whether curses are to blame or just bad management and worse luck, fans put up with a lot. 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. **Does not include the three seasons (19961998) during which the franchise suspended operations. 8 Philadelphia 76ers: 38 . Theyve made it twice total since last winning in 1984. There were World Series chances in '84 and 98, but the Padres won just one Fall Classic game in those years against the Tigers and Yankees, respectively. Orlando is the 23rd largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of 2,509,831. Led by quarterback Stan Humphries, the Chargers came back from a 13-3 deficit to win 17-13. The club they defeated, the Indians, still maintains the record for the longest World Series drought in baseball history. Further ties were broken by the team with the most active professional sports franchises. 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). The Predators, after missing the playoffs their first five seasons, have made the playoffs 12 of the 15 seasons since then. But if youre not going to count those as championships then you have to start counting years with the start of Super Bowls. Sacramento has quite a playoff drought going, as it last reached . The Bucks swept through the NBA playoffs beating Nate Thurmond and the San Francisco Warriors (4-1), Wilt Chamberlain and the Los Angeles Lakers (4-1) and sweeping Wes Unseld and the Baltimore Bullets. The longest currently active championship drought belongs to the city of For example, Canada the birthplace of hockey is home to seven cities with NHL franchises, but none of them have brought home a Stanley Cup in the last 30 years. After that promising start, they have had only four winning seasons and three playoff appearances since 1999. Entire US Womens Soccer Team Sues US Soccer for Gender Discrimination, we covered franchise championship conference titles, conference finals, and playoff appearance droughts, team moved to Los Angeles in 2017 after 56 years in San Diego. Of active NFL teams 20 have won the Super Bowl, Of active NFL teams 7 have won AFL or NFL championship pre-merger Of active NFL teams 5 have not won any championship or Super Bowl. With a first-round exit in the 2022 playoffs, the Maple Leafs tied the record for longest Stanley Cup drought in NHL history, matching the New York Rangers mark from 1940 to 1994. Ultimately, they were passed over for another city with a similar drought, only this city has four teams rather than two. The Bucks lost in seven games to the Allen Iverson-led Philadelphia 76ers in a series that some believe was rigged in Philadelphias favor. Since then the Wild has only had eight playoff appearance and won only two playoff series. When the Mariners host the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the American League Division series, it will be Seattles first MLB playoff game since Oct. 18, 2001. 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. Only one team can win the World Series every year, but some fanbases have been waiting a long time to see their team raise the Commissioners Trophy.