These teams are on historic playoff streaks

October 26th, 2023

While none of the Dodgers, Astros or Braves brought home the World Series title in 2023, each one of them made history.

Having all won their respective division titles, the Dodgers extended their playoff streak to 11 seasons, the Astros made it seven in a row and the Braves were part of the postseason field for the sixth straight year.

These postseason streaks are some of the longest in MLB history. In fact, there have been only six occurrences of a team reaching the playoffs in at least six straight seasons.

Of course, until 1969, the postseason consisted only of the NL and AL regular season champions facing off in the World Series. And in the decades since then, the playoff field has continued to grow, making it easier to put together such a streak nowadays. But even with that caveat, the aforementioned teams have joined some legendary MLB dynasties with their feats of consistent regular season dominance.

Below is the all-time leaderboard for most consecutive seasons reaching the playoffs:

1. 1991-2005 Braves (14 seasons; no playoffs in 1994)
Streak stats: 14 division titles, 1 WS title (1995)
Top player: (66.2 WAR)

Not only do the Braves have the all-time record with 14 straight playoff appearances, all of which came under manager Bobby Cox, but they also won the NL East in all 14 of those seasons (though in 1994, they were trailing the Expos at the time the season was canceled). No other team in MLB history has even had a streak of 10 consecutive division titles. Atlanta did not find much postseason success over this run, though, going 1-4 in the Fall Classic over that span. The Braves did reach eight straight NLCS from 1991-99, setting the all-time AL/NL record.

2. 1995-2007 Yankees (13 seasons)
Streak stats: 10 division titles, 4 WS titles
Top player:  (58.0 WAR)

The heyday of this streak was certainly the five-season span from 1996-2000, when the Yankees won four World Series as their young core of Jeter, , , and  grew together. But the Yankees also ended up winning nine consecutive AL East titles from 1998-2006, which represents the second-longest division title streak in MLB history behind the aforementioned Braves run. Notably, the Yankees have still not had a losing season since going 76-86 in 1992.

3. 2013-2023 Dodgers (11 seasons; active streak)
Streak stats: 10 division titles, 1 WS title (2020)
Top player: (51.9 WAR)

Even as big names like , , , , and have entered and exited the Dodgers roster, there’s been one constant in Los Angeles: winning. The Dodgers won eight straight NL West titles from 2013-20, and in the only season in the past decade in which they didn’t win the division title (2021), they still finished 106-56, tying their franchise wins record at the time. That’s a record that, of course, was broken by the 2022 Dodgers, who went 111-51. The Dodgers became the first team to have 100-plus wins in four straight non-shortened seasons (2019, '21, '22, '23) -- and for what it's worth, they were on a 116-win pace in the abridged 2020 season.

4. 2017-2023 Astros (7 seasons; active streak)
Streak stats: 6 division titles (all but 2020), 2 WS titles
Top player: (33.3 WAR)

Though the beginning of the streak was mired in the sign-stealing controversy, Astros have continued to be among MLB’s best teams in the years since. Houston has made the ALCS in each of the past seven seasons, the second-longest streak all-time behind the Braves’ run of eight straight in the 1990s. With four World Series appearances and two Fall Classic wins over that span, the Astros have established themselves as the team anyone has to get through on the way to a championship.

5-T. 2018-2023 Braves (6 seasons; active streak)
Streak stats: 6 consecutive division titles, 1 WS title
Top player: (25.2 WAR)

After missing the playoffs in four straight seasons, the Braves re-emerged as a contender in 2018, coinciding with the arrival of Acuña. Supplementing a homegrown core with shrewd trades for stars such as , who took over as Atlanta’s starting first baseman after departed as a free agent following the club’s 2021 World Series title, the Braves have become one of MLB’s preeminent franchises. The 2023 season marked Atlanta’s sixth straight NL East crown.

5-T. 2017-2022 Yankees (6 seasons)
Streak stats: 2 division titles, 0 WS titles
Top player: (37.3 WAR)

The Yankees predictably are the only franchise to have multiple playoff streaks of more than five seasons (and, as you’ll see below, they also have two more streaks of exactly five). But out of New York’s four individual streaks of at least five straight seasons in the playoffs, the most recent one is the only one that did not include a World Series win. The Yankees did not even reach the World Series over this span, having fallen to the Astros in the ALCS in 2017, ‘19 and ‘22.

Besides their several ALCS showdowns, an interesting link between the 2017-23 Astros and 2017-22 Yankees is , who played for the Astros from 2018-19 and has played for the Yankees since then.

7-T. 1949-1953 Yankees (5 seasons)
Won regular season AL pennant and won World Series in all 5 seasons

7-T. 1960-1964 Yankees (5 seasons)
5 consecutive regular season AL pennants, 2 World Series wins

7-T. 1971-1975 Athletics (5 seasons)
5 consecutive division titles, 3 World Series wins

7-T. 1995-1999 Cleveland (5 seasons)
5 consecutive division titles, no World Series wins

7-T. 2007-2011 Phillies (5 seasons)
5 consecutive division titles, 1 World Series win

7-T. 2011-2015 Cardinals (5 seasons)
3 division titles, 1 World Series win

7-T. 2019-2023 Rays (5 seasons; active streak)
2 division titles, no World Series wins