On October 27, 2011, the Texas Rangers were one strike away from their first World Series championship. They carried an impressive resume to that point: a franchise-leading 96 wins, their second consecutive division title in 12 seasons, and a six-game showdown against Detroit that culminated in a 15-5 finale for the league title.

Anyone glued to his TV last autumn knows how this story ends. David Freese ripped a triple off Neftali Feliz and the Cardinals shifted both the momentum and the result of the Series.

On September 27, 2012, the Texas Rangers are three games away from taking the AL West again. This year will mark their third succedent run at a postseason slot, an unprecedented event in club history. While it’s entirely possible that the Rangers could choke in yet another playoff push, they wouldn’t be the first to do so. In fact, nine MLB teams have clinched their division in 3+ consecutive seasons without locking down a World Series title:

Atlanta Braves, 1991-1993, 1996-2005
New York Yankees, 2001-2006
Cleveland Indians, 1995-1999
Philadelphia Phillies, 1976-1978, 2009-2011
Kansas City Royals, 1976-1978
Pittsburgh Pirates, 1990-1992
Houston Astros, 1997-1999
Minnesota Twins, 2002-2004
Los Angeles Angels, 2007-2009

During this 35-year span, the teams completed 340 playoff games out of a potential 679. Four teams—Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, and Cleveland—qualified for the World Series, but the Braves were the only ones to fall short in back-to-back seasons (1991-1992).

Less rare are the teams who froze in the Championship Series, or worse, barely toed the starting line in the Division Series. The Royals, Astros, and Pirates all failed to advance past the first round of playoff games, with Houston seeing just 11 of a possible 51 games, and Kansas City and Pittsburgh posting their respective losses in a pre-NLDS era. Only the Angels managed to improve their streak with each attempt, reaching the ALDS in 2007-2008 and the ALCS in 2009.

While it’s unusual for a team to suffer for very long in the postseason, these droughts overlapped from the get-go. Twelve times, one division champion from each league faltered in the playoffs in the same year. From 1991-1992, the Braves and Pirates squared off in the NLCS, with both match-ups resulting in a Game 7 heartbreaker for Pittsburgh. A decade later, the Yankees and Twins met in back-to-back ALDS. Sporting an identical 101-61 record in both seasons, the Yankees went 4-1 in each series, putting up three straight wins after surrendering the series opener to the Twins.

The unluckiest team by nearly a decade is the Atlanta Braves, who watched ten consecutive seasons roll by without winning a single Fall Classic. They made two bids for the title in 1996 and 1999, the first a six-game wrestling match against the New York Yankees, and the second a rematch and clean sweep by New York. In the latter half of their quest for a World Series trophy, the Braves fell in the NLDS five times, pushing the series to five games from 2002-2004 and finding themselves unable to muster more than a single run in each game—save for the 2004 ALDS, when they surrendered to a 12-3 whipping by the Astros.

Since their playoff streaks concluded, only two of nine teams have clinched a World Series championship. Most successful were the Yankees, who needed just three years to make their comeback in the 2009 Series, while the Royals took seven years to bounce back to postseason success. Of the six teams who are still vying for another World Series berth, the Astros remain the only franchise without a championship to their name.

Take heart, Rangers fans. Your team may have ill luck in the playoffs, but the streak is bound to end eventually. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go finish watching the 72-83 Mariners spoil the Angels’ chances of grabbing that second wild card.

Note: As graciously pointed out by John, the previously listed 2000-2002 Cardinals did not clinch the NL Central title in 2001. They tied the Astros with a record of 93-69, and were booted to a wild card spot due to Houston’s superior head-to-head record.