What's the longest postseason drought in Pittsburgh Pirates franchise history?

The answer may surprise and depress you.

Emma Lingan

Sep 27, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; A Pittsburgh Pirates hat and glove sit in the dugout prior to the game against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Let's face it – for the majority of the last three decades, being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan has felt like a living nightmare.

Sure, the Pirates have captured lightning in a bottle and made the postseason – barely – in three straight seasons from 2013 to 2015 after missing the playoffs for the previous two decades. Sadly,with each passing year of mediocrity, those three seasons continue to feel like more of a fluke than anything else.

Even in 2014 and 2015, Pittsburgh lost in the National League Wild Card round – which, at the time, consisted of one game. So, for all intents and purposes, the Pirates haven't played meaningful playoff baseball in more than a decade. In the past 10 seasons alone, they have just one playoff appearance, zero playoff series wins and a 45.9% win percentage. That feels ... not good.

But believe it or not, there was a time where things were even worse for the Pirates. While their eight-year dry spell is tied for the second-longest among active postseason droughts, it's still just a quarter of the length of their longest playoff drought in franchise history: 32 years, beginning in 1928, and ending in dramatic fashion with a seven-game defeat of the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series.

The Pirates are close to setting an MLB record, and not the good kind

The Pirates' 32-year postseason drought ranks ninth on the all-time list, but Pittsburgh tops the charts when it comes to League Championship Series droughts. The last time the Pirates appeared in the NLCS was in 1993, giving them the longest active LCS drought in all of Major League Baseball and the third-longest all-time.

So, in review, it has been 31 years since the Pirates last appeared in the NLCS. Once the 2024 campaign officially comes to a close, it will have been 32 years – the same length as their longest playoff drought in franchise history – since their last LCS appearance.

Five more years, and the Pirates will be tied with the Washington franchise for the second-longest LCS drought of all time. Nine more years, and they'll be tied with the Texas Rangers for the longest. 10 more, and they'll hold the all-time record at 42 years.

The Pirates (44 years) are only three years shy of the Seattle Mariners' record for the longest active World Series appearance drought (47). In other words, the Pirates aren't just bad; they're historically bad. And as long as the Nutting family is at the helm of the franchise, as they have been since 1996, recent history would indicate that it's not going to get better anytime soon.

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Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan is an MLB Staff Writer for FanSided primarily covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has been covering baseball for more than a decade dating back to her time as a student at Wake Forest University, and she has won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. National Team delegation (2016 Pan-American Championships & 2017 World Baseball Classic). She is also a credentialed NHL reporter and a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. You can follow her @Emma Lingan on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.