One of the many interesting nuggets regarding the divisional round of the 2026 Major League Baseball playoffs is that nearly 40% of the remaining field is comprised of teams shooting for their first-ever World Series title. Many die-hard baseball fans are familiar with the trivia question that asks which five have never won it all. There's only one team that hasn't played in the World Series, the Seattle Mariners, and it got one win away last year.
The Colorado Rockies have won a pennant but never won the World Series. The other three who haven't won it all are the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays. They're all still in 2026, but who is most likely to win it all?
The Padres were a downtrodden franchise until finally breaking through in 1984 by winning the NL West and coming back from an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five NLCS against the Cubs to win the pennant. They lost, four games to one, to the Tigers in the World Series, but it was a great run. They wouldn't again make the postseason until 1996, but they were swept in the NLDS.
In 1998, they made it all the way back to the World Series, only to be swept by the dynasty Yankees. There were also a pair of playoff seasons in the 2000s without advancement. Their recent run has seen five playoff berths in seven years, but they've only made one NLCS (2022), where they were bounced 4-1 by the Phillies.
Can they make more noise this time? They sure look great right now, but run into Milwaukee, the best team in baseball this round and could have an absurdly difficult road if they somehow get through that one. Perpetual punchlines as the Devil Rays, the Rays dropped the "devil" prior to the 2008 season and, ever since, have been contenders more often than not.
They went from a perpetual last-place finisher in the AL East to making the playoffs in four out of six seasons from 2008-13. After a downturn of five playoff-less seasons, the Rays then made five straight postseasons (2019-23). They missed the next two, but they're now back and had the best AL record this year.
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