With the Toronto Blue Jays safely in a playoff spot, the longest active postseason drought in North American sports has come to a close.
Toronto was last in the playoffs in 1993, when Joe Carter hit his famous game-ending home run off Mitch Williams of the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
Over the next 21 seasons, the Jays had 10 winning records and Cy Young Award seasons from Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens and Pat Hentgen. They fired and rehired manager John Gibbons and signed Jose Canseco. But they never made the playoffs.
With that drought over, the new leader in baseball is the Seattle Mariners. After losing Game 2 of the 2001 American League Championship Series at home, manager Lou Piniella said, “I guarantee you we will be back here for Game 6.” The Mariners did not come back, losing the series in five games in New York, and have not been back to the playoffs since, a span of 14 seasons.
Seattle will finish fourth in its division this year and never got in the race, despite 40 home runs from its big free-agent signing, 35-year-old Nelson Cruz.
Although the Mariners’ drought is impressive, sports’ new leader is the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills’ last taste of the NFL playoffs was in January 2000, when they lost a wild-card playoff game to the Tennessee Titans on the Kevin Dyson touchdown known as the Music City Miracle. Since then, Buffalo has had two 9-7 seasons, including one last year, but no playoff appearances, a run of 15 seasons.
This year, hopes are high that the Bills can emulate the Jays and end the drought. Under their new coach, Rex Ryan, the Bills are 2-1, with the only loss coming to the New England Patriots, and look like a top 10 team.
There is less hope for the NBA drought leader, the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves lost in the Western Conference finals in 2004 and since then have 11 seasons without a playoff trip. Last season they were 16-66, worse even than the Philadelphia 76ers, a team whose front office seemed to be actively trying to lose.
Minnesota has since picked up Karl-Anthony Towns with the first pick in the draft, but rebuilding in the NBA takes time, and the Wolves are projected to win only 25 or 26 games next season by oddsmakers.
The Edmonton Oilers lost the 2006 Stanley Cup finals and followed that with nine years out of the playoffs. They had the third worst record in hockey last year and are now counting on “the next Gretzky,” No. 1 overall draft pick Connor McDavid.
Toronto fans may soon be celebrating the end of another bad streak. Toronto F.C. never made the Major League Soccer playoffs in its eight previous years of existence. But this year the team is 13-13-4 and in a playoff spot with four games to play. Should it get in, the Philadelphia Union would become the new leader with four playoff-less seasons.
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