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Notes:
For
baseball, mere
appearance
in the playoffs is considered here
because it is harder to get in to begin
with and easier to win at least one game
in a series. For football,
at least one playoff win
is considered because it is easier to
get in but harder to win at least one
playoff game. Wins are counted in
football also because, most times,
getting into the divisional playoffs
where four teams compete requires a
wild-card win, whereas in baseball
getting that wild-card win (to set the
field of four playoff teams) essentially
happens in the regular season in the
wild-card race.
Washington
is not on the list because the baseball
Nationals have been in D.C. for such a
short time and have never appeared in
the playoffs. The last Redskins playoff
win was in 2005.
The New
York teams were divided into two pairs.
This division is the result of the
reasonable consideration of the football
Giants and Yankees having been much more
established by years, while the Jets and
Mets both entered the pro ranks much
later and at about the same time, 1960
and 1962 respectively.
Both the major league baseball
clubs from Chicago, the Cubs and White
Sox, earned a trip to the playoffs in
2008.
All locations are classified here as
cities in contrast to considering them
within their
metropolitan area. (For instance, the
"New England" Patriots are considered
the team from Boston.) The
notable exceptions are Milwaukee and Green Bay,
and the Tampa-St. Petersburg teams which are both
known as "Tampa Bay."
The second largest market in the
country, Los Angeles, is not represented
because it has no pro football team,
though its baseball teams, the Dodgers
and the Angels, rarely go long without making
the playoffs. Both last made the
playoffs in 2009.
Just for information, here are the NFL
teams in municipal areas without a
baseball team, along with the last time
each won a playoff game (in order of
drought length): Buffalo (1995),
Tennessee (2003), Carolina (2005),
Jacksonville (2007), Indianapolis
(2009), New Orleans (2011). The one
major league team with no NFL presence
is Toronto (last playoff appearance:
1993). (Los Angeles and Washington were
already noted.)
This page is designed to demonstrate
that a team may be successful with a
small market but terrific management,
such as the Pittsburgh Steelers or
Minnesota Twins. A team will also be
successful with with any kind of
management but have a distinct advantage
of playing in a large market, such as
the Philadelphia Eagles or New York
Yankees.
It is competitive agony, however, for a team to
have bad management and play in a
small market. Behold Kansas City's
Chiefs and Royals. Both clubs have
suffered through notoriously inept front
office management and a market that the
media loathe having to showcase. The
Chiefs are infamous for keeping their top
executives for far too long, people like
Jack Steadman, a business manager
haplessly trying to build a football
team, and Carl Peterson who started well
by establishing the Chiefs as a
powerhouse in the 90's but was simply
far too abrasive with players to keep
them happy. Every Royals fan knew what
was going to happen when their
exceptional GM John Schuerholz
was sent packing to Atlanta in 1990:
sustained success for the Braves and an
eternity of agony for the Royals. Not
only were they proved right, but they
have endured the horrific grinding of
salt deep in the wounds from the
notoriously inept ownership of David
Glass.
Kansas City's perpetually long misery is
highlighted by the fact that its
team-year playoff drought is twice
as long as any other city's.
Three-fourths of the metro areas on this
list have droughts that are at least
one-third the length of Kansas City's.
More than half of them are at
most a fifth the size.
Even if the Chiefs were to win a playoff
game, Kansas City would still be
at the top of the playoff drought list
simply by virtue of the interminably
long Royals futility.
Just for comparison, here
is Boston's playoff activity since the
last Kansas City postseason victory (a
period from 1993 to 2012): Patriots:
nine seasons with at least one playoff
win, Red Sox: nine playoff appearances, five
championships between them. The Harry S
Truman Sports Complex is the most barren
place on the sports planet in October
and January.
As if it can't be more excruciating, the
Chiefs did manage to get into the 2010
playoffs, but as usual lost their first
game. The Chiefs have now set an NFL
record for most consecutive losses in
postseason play, seven straight (and
still active). They started the
2011 NFL campaign 0-3, played well for a
while but injuries and poor coaching
doomed them to a 7-9 record, worst in
the AFC West. The Royals finished
the '11 season again near the cellar of
their division with the fourth worst
record in the American League. Believe
it or not, in the 1960's the Chiefs were
truly in the elite class of pro football
excellence, and the Royals were the same
in the majors during the 1970's.
Full disclosure: The author is indeed an
inveterate and quite forlorn Chiefs and
Royals fan.
For
another look at team success, go to
Current Pro Sports Team Success.
NFL Team
Names |