Why do we follow sports? Part of it is the thrill of sharing a big victory, especially a championship, with the players on the team we follow. That works out well if you follow teams that often play themselves into contention. It’s not so great if you follow one of the handful of teams that never won a World Series.

In the case of those teams, fans have endured years of not being in the championship conversation or, even worse, coming close to winning it all and failing.

As the 2021 season approaches, Major League Baseball has six teams that never won the World Series. Here’s a list of all of them, ranked in descending order by the number of years they’ve been trying, and failing, to end the season as champions.

Yankees World Series Wins 1903 - Present

Padres 1984San Diego Padres (1969)

The Padres launched its franchise in Southern California as one of the 14 expansion teams that started post-1961. The team has two National League pennants, in 1984 and 1998. In 1984, they lost 4-to-1 in the World Series against the Detroit Tigers, and in 1998 against a New York Yankees team that won four of the five World Series from 1996 to 2000.

Milwaukee Brewers (1970)

The Brewers franchise started as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, but played one season before going into bankruptcy court, getting purchased by new ownership and moved to Milwaukee, where they’ve played since 1970. They’ve made the World Series just once, winning the American League pennant in 1982 before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals. They switched to the National League in 1998, but have not yet won an NL pennant.

Rangers Cardinals 2011Texas Rangers (1972)

The Rangers are the team on this list that has come the closest, but never won the series. The most heartbreaking came in 2011 against the Cardinals, when the Rangers twice reached a point in Game 6 where they were one strike away from being champions. It didn’t happen. This franchise started play in 1961 as the Washington Senators, never even making the playoffs before moving to Texas (and then not making the playoffs until 1995). So, it could be argued they have been playing the longest without ever winning the series.

Seattle Mariners (1977)

The Mariners started play just one year after the Seattle Seahawks started playing in the NFL. The Seahawks have been to three Super Bowls, winning one. The Mariners have never even won the American League pennant. They have not reached the playoffs since 2001 and have only reached the playoffs four times since the team’s inception.

Colorado Rockies (1993)

The Rockies won the National League pennant once, in 2007, before getting swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Other than that, they’ve never progressed past the divisional series round of the playoffs.

Rays Phillies 2008Tampa Bay Rays (1998)

The Rays have won two American League pennants, in 2008 and 2020. They lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 4-to-1 in 2008 and the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-to-2 in the 2020 series. Despite making the playoffs six times between 2008 and 2020, they’ve yet to win it all.

While these teams have never won a World Series, they all at least reached the big series (except for the Mariners). History shows us that eventually they will all have their day. But they may have to wait. All 16 original Major League Baseball teams have won a World Series, but the Philadelphia Phillies played from 1883 to 1979 without winning a championship until winning the World Series in 1980. Patience may be required for some of these teams.