Postseason Players Missing a Ring in 2019

Not every player is fortunate enough to be on a team that wins a World Series. In the last few years, Adrián Beltré and Joe Mauer retired after distinguished careers without a championship, and it shouldn’t lessen what they accomplished. On the other side of the coin, Carlos Beltrán closed out his career with a championship in Houston, the icing on the cake and the cherry on top of a career that was already great. As we head into this year’s Division Series, there are a handful of players who have had very good careers without winning a title. Choosing a playoff team to root for can be difficult if your preferred squad isn’t participating; cheering for a player who deserves to be on a championship team seems as good a reason as any
to pick sides this October.

We’ll start with the position players. Here are the highest WAR totals for position players without a championship in the postseason:

There aren’t any sure-fire Hall of Famers in this group, and there probably isn’t even a Carlos Beltrán type. Russell Martin will certainly merit some Hall of Fame consideration and his WAR total is well out in front of every other player. Giancarlo Stanton ranks third on this list and he still hasn’t played his age-30 season. Nelson Cruz has been incredibly close to a title before, while a group of Nationals have been on good teams, but never won. Josh Donaldson won an MVP in 2015; this will be his seventh playoff appearance with four different teams in the last eight years, but he has yet to play in the World Series. If we were to rearrange this list by plate appearances and include a few more players with under 20 WAR, it would look like this:

If you’re wondering how Nick Markakis has accumulated 2355 career hits, part of it is playing a whole lot of games. He’s made the playoffs with the Orioles and Braves, but never been that close to a title. Edwin Encarnación has played on winning teams in Toronto and Cleveland, but this is probably his best shot at a title. Ryan Zimmerman hasn’t contributed much this season, but got a crucial hit in Tuesday’s eighth inning rally and has been an important part of the Nationals franchise since he was drafted in the first round back in 2005.

While there might not be a ton of big names on the position player side, there are a few likely future Hall of Famers on the pitching side still chasing a ring:

Unlike the position player list, almost everyone above is still a positive contributor this season. The only players below two wins are Kenley Jansen and Rich Hill. We’ve got two, and possibly three, Hall of Famers topping the list above. Kershaw and the Dodgers’ troubles in the postseason are well known, as the club has come so close the last few years. His former teammate Zack Greinke is looking for his title with Houston, as is Gerrit Cole. Max Scherzer has multiple Cy Young awards but no title. The entire Nationals playoff rotation is in the top seven, here. Two years ago, Justin Verlander ranked highly on this list before he helped the Astros and himself win a title for the first time. Jansen is the only reliever on this list, but if we look at all players with at least 400 games or 1,000 innings, we see a few more:

Brett Cecil could technically be on this list, but he hasn’t played this season. Fernando Rodney is still going, while a handful of mid-30s relievers are all trying to achieve postseason success. Adam Ottavino was on the Cardinals in 2010 and was in the organization in 2011, but spent the entire season in the minors.

There’s no one right way to watch baseball or cheer for particular players or teams, but if seeing team accomplishments line up with great careers matters to you, you might consider pulling for the Dodgers, Nationals, and Astros. They all feature great pitchers with long careers still looking for a ring.