A celebration that was worth the 29-year wait

It took 29 years, but the Kansas City Royals are again headed back to the World Series. This year’s Fall Classic will begin on Tuesday in K.C.

Prior to the beginning of the 2014 MLB season, there were 15 of the 30 MLB teams that had not played in the World Series since the start of the century. The Royals were one of those teams. Can you name the current 14 MLB teams that have not played in the World Series since 2000? (The answer will appear later in this blog.)

Back to the Royals… their 29-year wait for a return trip to the World Series is not the longest in baseball history. That belongs to the Chicago White Sox. The Chicago southsiders played in the 1959 World Series and then did not appear again in the Fall Classic until 2005, a 46-year wait. Of course the Cubs, if they ever get back to the World Series, will eventually shatter this mark; the Cubs last played in the World Series in 1945, a 69-year wait… and counting.

Here’s a look at the longest wait between World Series appearances (current franchise name is listed).

Years between World Series appearances, franchise (World Series years)

46: Chicago White Sox (1959-2006)
41: Oakland (1931-72)
41: Cleveland (1954-95)
40: Chicago White Sox (1919-59)
35: Philadelphia (1915-50)
34: Atlanta (1914-48)
33: Pittsburgh (1927-60)
33: Atlanta (1958-91)
32: Minnesota (1933-65)
30: Philadelphia (1950-80)
29: Kansas City (1985-2014)
28: Boston (1918-46)
28: Cleveland (1920-48)
27: San Francisco (1962-89)
25: Detroit (1909-34)

Two of the current franchises have never played in the World Series: Seattle and Washington (previously the Montreal Expos). For the Washington Nationals franchise, that drought has been since 1969; for Seattle it has been since 1977.

Here’s the 14 franchises that have not played in the World Series since 2000. The year they last played in the World Series is noted first.

1945: Chicago Cubs
1969 (Never): Washington
1977 (Never): Seattle
1979: Pittsburgh
1982: Milwaukee
1983: Baltimore
1988: L.A. Dodgers
1990: Oakland, Cincinnati
1991: Minnesota
1993: Toronto
1995: Cleveland, Atlanta
1998: San Diego

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