I am fascinated by long-term success of baseball franchises. The fact that some teams go for decades without winning the championship is perplexing. Just intuitively, every team should win the World Series every 30 years, since there are 30 franchises. That does not happen.
I decided to create a "Championship Frustration" index to measure every World Series by. This is the total number of seasons that have been played by both teams not counting the season in question. So, the Frustration Index of the Chicago Cubs for 2016 is 2016 (current season) - 1908 (the last time they won) - 1 (not counting the current season) = 107. Still the all-time high... and it's not close. For the Texas Rangers, they started playing in 1961 (in Washington), so the index is 2016 - 1961 (or, really, we assume the year before the franchise started is the last win, 1960 - 1), or 55.
Here are the top-ten World Series sorted by "Championship Frustration":
1. 2005 - Chicago White Sox (won in 1917, FI 87) vs. Houston Astros (came into league in 1962, FI 43) = 130
2. 2004 - Boston Red Sox (won in 1918, FI 85) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (won in 1982, FI 21) = 106
3. 2010 - San Francisco Giants (won in 1954 while in New York, FI 55) vs. Texas Rangers (came into league in 1961 as Washington, FI 49) = 104
4. 1975 - Cincinnati Reds (won in 1940, FI 34) vs. Boston Red Sox (won in 1918, FI 56) = 90
5 (tie). 1980 - Philadelphia Phillies (had not won; series started 1903, FI 77) vs. Kansas City (came into league in 1968, FI 11) = 88
5 (tie). 2002 - Anaheim Angels (came into league in 1961, FI 41) vs. San Francisco Giants (won in 1954 while in New York, FI 47) = 88
7. 1986 - New York Mets (won in 1969, FI 16) vs. Boston Red Sox (win in 1918, FI 67) = 83
8. 1995 - Atlanta Braves (won in 1958 while in Milwaukee, FI 36) vs. Cleveland Indians (won in 1948, FI 46) = 82
9. 1972 - Oakland Athletics (won in 1930 while in Philadelphia, FI 41) vs. Cincinnati Reds (won in 1940, FI 31) = 72
10. 1987 - Minnesota Twins (won in 1924 while in Washington, FI 67) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (won in 1982, FI 4) = 66
So, let's look at the FI for all of the playoff teams:
National League:
Chicago Cubs (won in 1908) - 107
Washington Nationals (came into league in 1969 in Montreal) - 47
New York Mets (won in 1986) - 29
Los Angeles Dodgers (won in 1988) - 27
San Francisco Giants (won in 2014) - 1
American League:
Cleveland Indians (won in 1948) - 67
Texas Rangers (came into league in 1961 in Washingotn) - 55
Baltimore Orioles (won in 1983) - 32
Toronto Blue Jays (won in 1993) - 22
Boston Red Sox (won in 2013) - 2
So, if the Cubs go the World Series, if they play Cleveland, Texas or Baltimore, this will be World Series with the most frustrated fans. Without the Cubs, it won't be the most frustrating, but it has the great potential of making the top ten.
Unless we get the Giants vs. the Red Sox. Yawn.
