The remaining postseason field presents a good chance that a long World Series title drought will be snapped when the final pitch of 2025 is thrown. It’s been a while since the Blue Jays and Tigers have won it all. And the Brewers and Mariners have never won a World Series title.
That could change for one of these clubs, for whom a long-awaited World Series championship has been elusive.
All four will participate in a Division Series matchup featuring the first postseason meeting between teams -- the Mariners and Tigers have never faced off in the playoffs before, and neither have the Brewers and Cubs or Blue Jays and Yankees.
Here’s a look at each drought in detail:
Blue Jays: 32 years
The Jays brought Canada its only two World Series titles thus far in back-to-back years. In 1992, Toronto finally reached the Fall Classic after falling short in the American League Championship Series in two of the previous three years. The Jays defeated the Braves in six games, and catcher Pat Borders (.450, 3 2B, HR) was named Series MVP.
In 1993, the Blue Jays again won in six, this time over the Phillies on Joe Carter’s walk-off home run in Game 6, one of two home runs that have clinched the World Series title (also the Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski in Game 7 of the 1960 Fall Classic). Paul Molitor (.500, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBIs) took home Series MVP honors.
Since then, Toronto has reached the postseason five times, losing in the ALCS in 2015 and ’16, then being swept in the Wild Card Series in 2020, ’22 and ’23. This time around, they’ll be well-rested following a bye before a showdown with the Yankees in the AL Division Series. As the No. 1 seed in the AL, Toronto will have home-field advantage through a potential AL Championship Series.
Brewers: Never won the World Series
The only time the Brewers reached the World Series was in 1982, when Milwaukee (then in the AL) and AL MVP Robin Yount took on the Cardinals and lost in seven games. Since then, the Brewers have reached the postseason nine times -- including seven times in the past eight years.
The Crew have gotten to the National League Championship Series twice since their pennant-winning ’82 campaign -- 2011 (lost in six games to the Cardinals) and 2018, when Milwaukee came oh so close but lost in seven to the Dodgers.
This year, the Brewers have home field all throughout the playoffs (including a potential World Series), which will begin on Saturday when they will play in the NLDS for the first time since 2021. It’ll be another divisional matchup in the Division Series, with the Cubs coming to American Family Field to open the best-of-five set on Saturday.
Mariners: Never appeared in the World Series
In 1995, Edgar Martinez hit the double that “saved baseball in Seattle,” and hopes were high in the Mariners’ first postseason run. But the ALCS against Cleveland was as close as they would get that year, when they lost in six games. Seattle reached the ALCS again in 2000, and in their 116-win 2001 campaign. But the M’s again fell short. They wouldn’t reach the playoffs again until 2022, when they swept the Blue Jays in the Wild Card Series but were swept themselves in the ALDS by the Astros.
Fresh off winning their first division title in 24 years, Seattle -- the only team that has never reached the World Series -- will open the ALDS against the Tigers on Saturday at T-Mobile Park. The M’s took the regular season series between the teams, four games to two, as they prepare to meet Detroit in the postseason for the first time.
Tigers: 41 years
It’s been more than four decades since the Tigers last hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy. But given the way they bounced back to defeat the division rival Guardians on the road in the AL Wild Card Series after blowing a 15 1/2-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central, they’re on the prowl for much more than a Division Series appearance.
In 1984, the Tigers defeated the Padres in five games to win the World Series. That followed a regular season in which Detroit won 104 games. Since then, the Tigers have won the AL pennant twice, but they were beaten each time in the Fall Classic.
In 2006, Detroit advanced to the World Series on Magglio Ordóñez’s memorable walk-off homer to beat the A’s, but then lost to the Cardinals in five games. In 2012, the Tigers were swept by the Giants after a Triple Crown-winning campaign for Miguel Cabrera.