… and while the Washington Nationals are waiting for the winner of the Yankee Astro’s series, they will be ending the longest streak without making a World Series Appearance. Sure 14 years may not seem long enough to make a statement like that but if you figure in the fact that the franchise spent 36 years in Montreal before moving to D.C. its been 50 years which is the longest amount of time its taken a Major League Baseball franchise to reach its first World Series. They came close to being in this position in 1994 when they were in first place by six games in the National League East Division but a player’s strike wiped out the last eight weeks of the season and all of the post season. No official titles were awarded that year. When the Texas Rangers reached and lost the world series in 2009, it ended their 49-year drought. The next longest streak, which is still active, belongs to the Seattle Mariners who have never gone to the World Series in its 43-year history. The Houston Astros also needed 43 years to reach their first World Series in 2005. The Angels and Orioles each needed 41 years. The Pirates who played in the first world series has returned to the fall classic several times but are currently in a 40-year drought which is only 3 years behind Seattle. And from the looks of things I’m willing to bet that the closest the Pirates will ever get to another appearance in the World Series would be to quote the Crazy Croatian, if they bought their own tickets.But hey might even get them at cost.