Some are very overdue. Some not only have not been making it to the World Series, but they have been doing poorly otherwise, too. This may seem like alot of teams, but at the conclusion of the 1958 season, 11 of the 16 teams were overdue.
We have always had hapless teams. The Phillies went 35 years without a pennant before finally getting one in 1950 but then went another 30 years. The original Senators did not win one in their last 27 years in Washington. The St. Louis Browns went only once to the Series in over 50 years before moving to Baltimore. The White Sox went 40 years without one until 1959 and then went another 46 years.
It is probably hard to quantify "overdueness" over baseball's history to accurately assess how bad things are now. In the pre-1960 years, you could be overdue in just 8 years so it may not have felt so bad to the fans. Now it means a longer time period. Right now, it would take 7 years to clear out the back log of teams overdue and it would require all of the hapless teams to get in over this stretch (it does not seem likely).
The following table shows the teams that are at least half way to being overdue.
The Yankees should be on the list. I mean, they ARE supposed to be in the WS every 3-4 years or so ;)
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I forgot to weight each team's drought by how important they are:)
ReplyDeleteI would be very interested to see payroll spent by each team since last world series win and since last world series appearance and last playoff appearance.
ReplyDeleteYou might try the "Business of Baseball" site. I think they have salary info. My guess is that the teams that are overdue don't spend as much
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