MLB Teams Never Won World Series List Could Change With Brewers-Rays

The list of MLB teams never won World Series is set to shrink in 2026, with the Brewers and Rays meeting for the championship of Major League Baseball. Milwaukee leads the World Series 3-1 after Tampa Bay won Game 4, meaning one of the two franchises will claim its first title.

The matchup carries extra weight because both clubs entered the series as part of the group of five MLB teams without a World Series championship. For the Brewers, the moment also revisits a franchise history shaped by relocation, league changes and near misses.

Brewers and Rays put a first-time champion in play

The World Series is MLB’s official championship and is contested each fall. In 2026, it features two franchises that had not previously won it: the Brewers and the Rays.

Milwaukee holds the advantage at 3-1 in the series after the Rays won Game 4. That result kept Tampa Bay alive, but the central storyline remains unchanged: either the Brewers or the Rays will win a first World Series championship.

The series also changes the broader shape of baseball history. With five teams listed as never having won the World Series entering this matchup, the 2026 champion will remove one franchise from that group.

How Milwaukee’s long path began

The Brewers franchise was founded as an American League expansion club in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots. After just one season, the franchise relocated to Milwaukee and became the Brewers for the 1970 campaign.

Milwaukee’s league and division history has been unusually varied. The club played in the AL West from 1969-71, the AL East from 1972-93 and the AL Central from 1994-97. The Brewers then moved to the National League Central Division for the 1998 season.

That path has made the Brewers’ title chase a long-running story across both leagues. The franchise won the AL East crown in 1982, won the NL Central title in 2011 and was an NL Wild Card team in the 2008 season.

1982 remains the defining near miss

The 1982 Brewers team, nicknamed Harvey’s Wallbangers in a nod to its slugging reputation and manager Harvey Kuenn, remains central to the franchise’s World Series history.

That team reached the World Series after a notable American League playoff comeback. In the first-ever MLB playoff matchup between expansion teams, Milwaukee rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to defeat the California Angels in what was then a best-of-five ALCS.

The Brewers then opened the World Series by crushing the St. Louis Cardinals 10-0 and later held a 3-2 lead in the series. In the decisive seventh game, Milwaukee took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, but St. Louis rallied to win 6-3 and deny the Brewers a championship.

Recent postseason chapters set up the 2026 run

Milwaukee’s other highlighted postseason attempts also ended against eventual champions. In 2008, the Brewers lost in four games in the NLDS to the Philadelphia Phillies, who went on to win the World Series.

In 2011, the Brewers put together the best regular season record in franchise history at 96-56. They defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games in the NLDS before dropping the NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals in six games. St. Louis also went on to win the World Series.

The Brewers flipped the script in 2026 with MLB’s best record at 103-59. They also beat the San Diego Padres in four games on the way to a World Series matchup that can end one of the sport’s remaining championship droughts.

What comes next

Milwaukee’s 3-1 lead gives the Brewers the first chance to end their World Series drought. The Rays, after winning Game 4, remain in position to keep chasing their own first championship and extend the series.

Either way, the 2026 World Series will produce a first-time champion from a matchup built around two franchises that had never before lifted MLB’s top prize.