It is somewhat amazing that there are three National League teams – one each for the West, East, and Central – that have yet to win their division.
Make no mistake, the American League has its share of heartbreak. The Mariners have yet to return to the playoffs after their 116-win season in 2001. The Rangers are far away as ever from capturing their first World Series after the so-close-you-can-taste-it near-misses of 2010 and 2011. Fans of the Astros and Red Sox have suffered different brands of heartbreak after the legitimacy of their recent winners was called into question.
But in the National League, the Rockies, Marlins, and Pirates have never won their respective divisions.
Granted, the Pirates were crowned champs of the National League East 9 times, including a three-peat for Jim Leyland’s clubs from 1990 to 1992 and a title-winner way back in 1979 – but since they moved to the NL Central in 1994: goose eggs. That’s a 26-year-run without a divisional crown, a mark of futility eclipsed only by the Rockies and Marlins. Colorado and Florida both entered the league in 1993, and neither has landed the top spot in their division in the 27 seasons since.
Back in the junior circuit, every team in the AL East has won since 2010 (Tampa Bay). In the Central, the White Sox have the longest drought (11 seasons), going back to their first-place finish in 2008. Everyone in the AL West has taken their turn at the top since 2012 – except the Mariners, of course, who won the division in 2001 and 1997.
But each division in the National League has its slow-and-steady competitor, so let’s take a quick look at each.
Colorado Rockies
Of these three clubs, the Rockies’ reputation took the fewest hits over the last 27 years. The Blake Street Bombers hold a particular place in baseball lore, and there’s a general sense of “unfortunate circumstances” around the Rox because of the thin air in Colorado. The impossibility of housing a winning pitching staff at Coors Field is baseball cliche now, but that doesn’t make the challenge any less potent.
Here’s what I wrote of Colorado in their Offseason In Review post back in March: “Colorado pitching, after all, has proven one of the more frustrating team-building challenges in the major leagues. The Sisyphean task of constructing even a league-average pitching staff at Coors Field persists year-after-year. Over the course of their 27-season history, the Rockies posted a league-average or better team ERA just three times (2010, 2009, 2007). In 2010, Jim Tracy’s 83-win squad finished with an exactly-league-average ERA, but those other two seasons — 2009, 2007 — happen to be two of the only three seasons in which the Rockies won 90 games in their history.”
Adding to the task at hand for Colorado, there’s at least a possibility that ownership believes this team is better than it is. They lost 91 games last year and have exhibited zero financial flexibility. If they end up losing close to 90 games again (or the equivalent in whatever kind of season is played in 2020), then the Rockies are still probably in the decline phase, not yet having rebooted into a full-blown rebuild. Rebuilds, of course, are time-intensive when done right, and very time-intensive when rushed.
The Rockies have made the postseason a handful of times, and they won the pennant in 2007, but they’re caught in no-man’s-land now. The Dodgers have won the division 7 years running, and Walker Buehler, Cody Bellinger, and company have plenty left in the tank. The Padres’ stable of young arms makes them one of the more intriguing up-and-coming teams in the league, and the Diamondbacks continue to impress with their ability to retool on the fly. After coming within a play-in game of taking the crown from the Dodgers in 2018, the Rockies might have missed their best shot.
Miami Marlins
The Marlins entered the league at a tough time to be a member of the NL East. The Atlanta Braves held a hammerlock on the division, taking the crown every season from 1995 until 2005 (they were in the NL West before that). To their credit, the Marlins made themselves into a competitive squad pretty quick, making the playoffs as a wild card in 1997, just their fifth season of existence. The organization made its name the year after, however, in selling off the pieces of their World Series winner and cratering into a 108-loss squad. After that horrid 1998 season, it took the Marlins five more years to get back to the playoffs again, at which point it was second-verse-same-as-the-first. They didn’t sink quite so fast or quite so far the second time around, but they also haven’t recovered (no playoff appearances since 2003).
That said, the Marlins have begun to see the light from their decade-plus in limbo. MLBTR’s own Mark Polishuk wrapped up the Marlins offseason back in March with this: “It’s a sign of progress, however, that the scorched-earth phase of the rebuild seems to be over. Villar, Kintzler, or other veterans on short-term deals could well end up being moved at the trade deadline, but it doesn’t seem like younger talent is on the move…Miami seems ready to find out if the young players it already has in the fold could end up being part of that next Marlins winner, and it will be intriguing to see which of the pitchers and position players take that next step in 2020.”
The current era of Marlins baseball is best known for shepherding the likes of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna out of town prior to the 2018 season. But they’re also a unique entrant on this mini-list because they won not just one, but two World Series titles over this span. Derek Jeter now helms the organization, and though they don’t have that face-of-the-franchise type player soaking up their spotlight, they’ve become increasingly competitive. Heading into whichever season of baseball comes next, they’ll have a decent collection of starting pitchers to keep them in games – with a smaller host of position player prospects nearing the majors. Whether they have that franchise-changing talent in the upper ranks is unclear. Business might not yet be booming in Miami, but it’s better.
Pittsburgh Pirates
As stated above, it’s a bit unfair for the Pirates to be lumped in with the expansion clubs from the nineties, as they do have a history of success in the major leagues. They have 9 division crowns, 7 World Series appearances, and 5 World Series banners. But that’s all ancient history.
Since moving to the NL Central in 1994, the Pirates are a firm contender for the most moribund franchise in the sport. The departure of Barry Bonds after the 1992 season put an unfortunate face on their decline – much in the way that Babe Ruth’s departure doomed Boston baseball for so long – but there has been ample time to rebound from those back-to-back game 7 losses to Atlanta in 1991 and 1992.
In the time since the Pirates’ primary distinction is claiming the title for the longest streak of losing seasons in North American sports history. Forget about division titles. The Pirates weren’t able to finish over .500 one time from 1993 to 2012.
Pittsburgh fans finally had something to cheer for in 2013 when Clint Hurdle’s club broke through with 94 wins and a wild card berth. They even won that first playoff game against the division rival Cincinnati Reds and pushed another rival – the Cardinals – to five games in the NLDS. The club followed its star outfield of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, and Gregory Polanco to two more wild card berths in the following two seasons. Unfortunately, they were unable to get more than one playoff game in either of those years.
After finishing over .500 again in 2018, last season brought on a complete reset. Most of the organizations’ management turned over, and the remaining faces of those competitive clubs – Hurdle, Marte – were also sent packing. The organization is now in the hands of GM Ben Cherington, but they’re facing a complete philosophical overhaul. While they have talent, they’re not an easy club to put a timeline on returning to contention. Not until they put together a pitching staff with a more effective (and less pugilistic) philosophy. The division isn’t dominated by one team like the current AL West, but the Cardinals build a winner year after year, and the Cubs and Brewers aren’t far off in terms of their recent consistency.
Looking ahead, a shortened season in 2020 could open the window for a bizarre sort of division champ. All hope is not lost. On the whole, however, I don’t think there are a lot of pundits who would pick any of the Rockies, Marlins, or Pirates to breakthrough next season. Still, it’s bound to happen one day, right? All three teams will work to end their respective droughts, and in the meantime, thank goodness for the wild card.
(Poll link for app users.)
(Poll link for app users.)
Needlenose Ned? Ned the Head???!!! BING!
Okay. Respect for that movie reference.
Ned Ryerson!
pretty easy to explain two of these.
also Marlins fans have relatively recently won 2 WS. they’re not suffering.
No baseball this year with fans in the stands that could be interesting. Checking the players daily to see if they have a fever or the virus. Then July comes and goes with no baseball will it happen this year?
Their Marlins ownership was suffering and now it doesn’t seem much better, could be another decade before they make a WS appearance
2003. Since then they’ve had 4 winning seasons and haven’t won 80 games since 2010. Couple 100 loss seasons since 2010 and a 98 loss season since 2010….
They’re hurting pretty badly as a fan base.
The worst part isn’t even the losing. It’s the amount of talent they gave away all those years starting with Miguel Cabrera. Since then they’ve been hemorrhaging talent out of their farm system and MLB roster for almost 2 decades with hardly anything to show for it.
so? how many teams havent won at all since then? quite a few. my point is who cares about winning divisions if you win the games that matter the most. and its not their first WS was eons ago.
How many franchises have been built up and torn down repeatedly by the owner, while being less than mediocre? They haven’t traded one “core” since 2003, they’ve blown that team up multiple times.
The Blue Jays Trade, the Stanton/Osuna/Yelich.. and complete nothingness in the middle. They’ve had it pretty bad for almost 20 years dude..
That’s like pointing to the Pirates with Bonds and saying “that’s not too long ago!”
I don’t remember those same teams trading away as much talent as the Marlins have.
Miguel Cabrera, Yelich, Ozuna, Paddack, Castillo, Stanton, Enrique Hernandez,
2004
sold Kevin Millar to the Red Sox, Adrian Gonzalez, Derek Lee, Jason Grilli was drafted by the CWS as a rule 5
2005
Brad Penny, Al Leiter, Beckett/Lowell which they traded Hanley Ramirez in his prime later on and Anibal Sanchez too for nothing…
2007
Miguel Cabrera
Then proceeded to give away Anthony Descalfini, Colin Moran, Jake Marsinik, Mark Canha, Dan Jennings, Sam Dyson, Trevor Williams, Brad Hand, Nick Wittgren….
I’m sure I’m missing some others they just gave away but point is unlike the Pirates or Rockies the Marlins have gave away so many pieces that could have made them more competitive had they held on to them longer…probably won a division by now had they kept a few of those guys.
Even when they win a trade like getting Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez they screw it up a couple years later…..
Marlins won the Stanton and Ozuna trades hands down.
For Ozuna they got Sandy Alcantara, Magernius Sierra, Zac Gallen, and Daniel Castano.
Already traded Zac Gallen for Jazz Chisholm. Could trade Alcantara much like they’ve traded Nolasco, Beckett, Penny, Sanchez in their prime.
Just because they win a trade doesn’t mean anything. They’ve proven to mess that up later on.
Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez? Good trade. Traded them later in their prime years with huge value….for nothing.
They got out from the Buerhle and Reyes contracts. Got Descalfani, Marsinick, and others. Good trade. Messed that up later trading both.
They trade for Enrique Hernandez. Trade him away.
Trade for Luis Castillo. Traded him away, twice.
Their trade history has many examples of getting guys in trades and trading them away for nothing.
Millar was a nobody on his way to Japan before the Sox picked him up. Adrian Gonzalez was traded in 03 for Ugeth Urbina and then they won a ring so automatic win. Penny was traded in 04 for Paul LoDuca and Guillermo Mota. At the time Penny was expendable as they had Willis Beckett Pavano and AJ Burnett coming back and no one at catcher. The 05 team signed a couple pen arms and Al Leiter with Carlos Delgado. Leiter was garbage and the team underachieved and Loria claimed to lose money. Lowell was just extended and was horrible and put him with Beckett and Mota to get HanRam and Anibal. Hanley was traded for Eovaldi after two years of garbage.
Also Derek Lee was getting expensive and they decided to keep Pierre Castillo and Lowell instead which I didn’t mind.
The 2012 fire sale was necessary as they really botched building that team and handing out money.
The old regime traded Paddack and Castillo as they tried one last time before finally selling the team. Paddack was a no one with one good single A season under his belt (granted he fired off something absurd like 35 straight hitless innings) and they sold early (many of those guys don’t pan out). Castillo is the main head scratcher of all as he was gifted to us for Casey McGehee and we had to trade him twice?!? After the first one they should have taken the sign. Straily has a career year and they get him instead.
People forget at the time of the Cabrera trade people say we hosed Detroit (Cabrera had legal trouble and alcoholism to battle and Willis was never the same). Miller and Maybin were supposed to be can’t miss blue chips. Oh well. When Yelich was traded MIL fans were outraged. At the the current regime trades have time to pan out. The future is finally bright. But in 2012 when Samson was interviewed he said “we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel” and the reported answered “what if that light is a train coming towards you?” That’s the exact state of the Marlins now. Which light is it?
Marlins don’t have a fan base worth mentioning. Florida baseball needs to contract, either drop Tampa or Miami, the state can’t support both. My vote is keeping Miami because it has a better stadium and city.
Red Sox fans having heartbreak? Give me a break. Maybe before 2004.
I also don’t think many Astros fans are heartbroken these days.
Anybody looking for a ball club to buy and move to another city, the Pirates are ripe
Absolutely not going to happen with that fanbase and history. It’ll be the Rays that get moved
Not a chance in hell that the Rays will move.
Rays will get a new stadium.
I know you’re a fan and all, but baseball in Tampa (in Flordia for that matter) is a failure. There’s a reason MLB was thinking about splitting their season with Montreal. The A”s have a better shot at a new stadium, and they have no shot at all.
Rays are not going to get a new stadium. If that were the case they wouldn’t be going into their 22nd year in a 30 year old building. Rays don’t have money to pay to keep good players, where do you think they will find money for a stadium? Rays couldn’t get anything done with St. Pete/Tampa. Taxpayers aren’t paying, Thankfully the lack of attendance is the location & structure, not that the team is bad. If this split with Montreal occurs it will be the end of the Rays in this town and mark the end of baseball for me.
“a less pugilistic philosophy??” Were the Pirates boxing their players before Cherington took over? What is that word even doing in this article?
Join the Nintendo fan club today, Mac!
So correcting all the writers spelling errors is no longer enough? Now their vernacular bothers you? Why do you even bother with MLBTR?
Stop stalking me.
A please would be nice.
Also, *writers’
Stop making pointless, self indulgent, egotistical posts. Notice how I didn’t reply to your baseball related post? And ya, say please. Some people have no manners. =D
I typed out writers correctly, by the way.
Thanks for proving my point. No, you were incorrect. You didn’t add a possessive. Needs to be “all the writers'”
Go get an education. Your English skills stink, and you clearly don’t know what “egotistical” means.
I think i heard your mom yelling your fruit loops are ready…better go up before she gets mad!
I think I heard your mom yelling for me to come back to her bedroom.
Happy Mothers Day Timmy tube socks! ahahaha
I gave your mother a wonderful present, trust me.
‘; trust me.’…come on man get your semicolons and comma game correct!….smh f-ing rookie!…timmy tube socks in his basement strikes again!
I figured it referred to all the pitching staff fisticuffs in recent years.
I agree with the responses above – you’re just being a jerk with comments like this. It’s a free site, with lots of interaction by the staff, and the writers genuinely seem to be nice people. (I write “seem” because I don’t know them in real life, but online they are friendly and gracious.)
Moreover, to point out other commenters’ typos or errors is not “educated,” it’s just petty.
That makes sense regarding pugilistic, but it’s an obscure reference that probably needed to be explained to people who don’t follow the Pirates closely.
If you think expecting a higher standard of journalism—from a website who used to have much, much higher ones (I’m talking from 2010 through maybe 2018)—is petty, then I weep for people who have to read your writing.
Marlins have 0 division titles and 2 championships. I’m pretty sure they are happy with the latter over worrying about the former. Baseball isn’t structured to worry about winning a division as much as making the post season, 11 Wild Card teams have made it to the World Series and 6 have won Championships. Finishing first doesn’t matter much these days.
Exactly and plus, the best team doesn’t always win, this applies in all professional sports, college sports and even high school and also like in player sports, such as tennis, the best player does not always win, either.
Rockies best chance was 2018 when they got Buehler’d. Although they still made the NLDS thanks to the Cubs not being able to hit water if they fell out a boat.
Seattle Mariners is the only franchise to never appear in a World Series – would be my choice for frustration.
They need a new dome.
No to the dome it was awful.
They needed a new owner which they got. Now a little time to fix the horrible GMs we had. Things are looking good. It was tough to see Lou go because management wouldn’t get the player he wanted. Nintendo ran it like a business only cared about the bottom line. They waited far too long to sell.
I think anyone who has followed baseball for the last decade knows the Rockies have struggled with their rotation but to see the numbers posted like that is eye popping. I know they only have have 27 seasons under their belt but just 3 years of league average or better pitching? That almost makes me think they should focus on bats and defense and punt on pitching and hope for the best. I know bat first approaches haven’t done that well in the passed but that seems like their lot in baseball.
I guess their run prevention strategy would be slow ball pitchers and strong defense because fast balls hit hard become moon landings.
i dont see how those numbers can be trusted given the Coors effect, but its hard to deny the pitching is lacking regardless. the team seems to trade their SP right as they adjust.
That’s basically what they’ve been doing. They’ve put more emphasis into their pitching lately, but for a while they just planned to outmash everyone.
Their best strategy, in my opinion, would be to build a strong infield defense (which they mostly have) and loading up on groundball pitchers. A ball moves a little differently in high altitude, but if a guy doesn’t give up fly balls then he’d be more likely to succeed in Coors. Dallas Keuchel, for example, would have been a perfect fit for them.
They should focus more on outfield defense. Three outfielders with tremendous range could go a long way in preventing some of those singles, doubles and triples Coors Field always leads the league in.
They’re up against it with pitching. High GB% pitchers that also miss bats are the ideal. Not many pitchers that can do both well. I feel for the daunting task the Rockies face with pitching.
Agree with this 100%. You can’t roll out Desmond and Blackmon who are two of the worst defenders in the league in that ballpark and expect to win.
The Rockies have as much struggles getting free-agent pitching to come to Colorado as the Giants have in getting free-agent power hitters to come to San Francisco.
Add to that how hard it is to develop young pitchers’ confidence pitching half their games in that air and it’s no wonder they haven’t had much luck.
@jek. So what you’re saying is, the Giants and Rockies must merge into the same team to make one super team that rules baseball for the rest of time?
As long as they play in Oracle Park. :)
Salary – no good pitchers want to pitch in Colorado because their stats would be horrible and it would cost them big money in future contracts.
I was telling a joke. I am well aware of Coors Fiels and it’s alternate universe counter part, Oracle Park. =)
The LOLmarlins have returned lol
Gregory Polanco has never been a star, nor was he any type of leader for the Pirates in 2014-2015. Neil Walker? Yes. Gerrit Cole? Yes. Maybe even Pedro Alvarez or Josh Harrison are worthy of a mention. But not Gregory Polanco.
Don-he was referring to the outfielders which if you recall was touted as being the best in baseball at the time.
Not sure that Cole was ever a leader.Alvarez certainly never was.And Polanco clearly was not,nor is he today.
The leader of that team was clearly Cutch.
The Pirates managed to win 98 games in 2015 second best record in baseball that year.
Unfortunately, the team with the best record played in their division.
And the team with the third best record too. One of the very rare times when the three best teams in baseball came from the same division.
Yes, Pirates would have won their division that year if they’d been properly placed in the NL East during realignment
No Astros or Red Sox fan could possibly tell me with a straight face that they’re heartbroken. That statement is just wrong.
this was a really fun read
great job
I really think the Rox will have a hard time. Gotta be so hard for pitchers to rotate between pitching home and away so often. I’m a believer just in history that the pitching just has to be there. Many teams have won WS with shut down pitching alone but at least balance.
If it weren’t for 1997 and 2003, I’d pick the Marlins. However, those championships did happen, so it’s gotta be the Pirates.
Two main reasons for Pirates dismal run, McClatchy and Nutting. Losing Bonds was a Babe Ruth size blunder, giving away Aramis Ramirez was a close second.
Bonds was ALWAYS going to San Fran to play for his Dad and Uncle Willie’s team as soon as he hit free agency.
Fourty-one years since the Pirates last World Series, only 45 years to go…..”curse of the Barryo”…..
Not really. Bonds never produced in the postseason and its not like the Giants racked up multiple championships after signing him (they all came post-Bonds).The Pirates problem is 3 decades of “rebuilding” with no actual direction
Lol… .355 with 8 HR in the 2002 postseason, including .471/.700/1.294 w/4 HR in the ‘02 WS.
With the Giants, not the Pirates.
To further that Bonds in 3 other postseasons with the Giants was 8 for 36 with 0 Home Runs and in the postseasons in Pittsburgh he was 13 for 68 with 1 Home Run. He had 1 more walk than strikeouts with Pittsburgh 14/13 and with the Giants he was 11/7 so not much contribution minus the 2002 playoffs. Adam Kennedy had a 3 Homer game that same postseason so it doesn’t mean much for a player to get hot once in 7 trips to the post season
Along with a 1.994 OPS lmao
Rsox-Huntington had a plan when he first started as he traded away several very good players(Kendall,Wilson,Giles,Bay,Freddie)albeit without much ending up in return.
Unfortunately,the recent three golden years of the Pirates ended up being second fiddle to the excellent years of the Cardinals who were just a little bit better each year than the 93.3 average win Pirates.
NH actually brought some intelligence and planning abilities to the Pirates that the two absolute knuckleheads before him did not have.
It was a recent combination of laziness and inflexibility I think that got him and the others canned.
Panj-Bonds did not want to play in Pittsburgh,and he wanted to go to San Francisco.
He was awful in not one,not two,but three playoff series.
The Pirates were a very good team in 1992 even without Bobby Bonilla,so they kept Bonds.
There was absolutely no blunder involved.
Bonds,though,was a guaranteed HOF’er even without his muscular “improvement”.Even then,though,his team only went to the WS one time and lost.
But the Marlins annually compete for the AAAA Florida State League pennant.
And yet the Marlins have won two WS. The Wild Card sucks.
Sucks for you but not for me… That was a great series for us not you.
Without the WC y’all wouldn’t have won in 2014 though??
The financial structure of baseball today is very clearly biased toward the large market teams.Unfortunately one can lump the eight small market teams together along with a few others as having a very negligible chance of winning the WS and only a small chance at a division title.
This is based on historical fact since 1991.
I have to admit that being a Marlins fan is not easy. I was there for the first pitch ever and I will nevertheless continue to attend as many games as I can. I just love baseball at really any level and I specially love wearing my 1997 & 2003 World Series Champ T-shirts. So yeah it’s two great feasts with alot of famines but I’m sure I would rather wear those than a division champ t-shirt… Being a Marlins fan hasn’t been painless but I guess there are alot worse things out there.
Poor Clint Hurdle. I know he retired, but will he be the next Marlins manager, having spent 8 years in Colorado and 9 in Pittsburgh?
Unfortunately,Clint retired two years ago.
He did a good job for seven years but it wore him out and he had no energy left.
I do not think that anyone would hire him now even if he wanted to come back.