With their 2021 World Series victory, the Braves snapped a historic streak. They had gone 16 straight postseason appearances without winning a title entering ‘21, two appearances longer than any other team in history. That means they’d made 16 postseason appearances without winning it all between their 1995 title and now. That streak will stand as the longest until it's superseded, but thankfully for Atlanta, it’s no longer an active one.

The fun thing with the streak, though, is that it shows us that even the longest of these kinds of spans is meant to be broken. This isn’t the only longest such streak to end recently, which means there’s a lot of hope on the horizon for three teams with the longest active streaks entering 2022.

All streaks must end, and plenty have lately

Since the 2016 season, three of the longest streaks of teams’ postseason appearances not leading to a title have ended. In ‘16, the Cubs snapped a 14-appearance streak that began in 1910, their first playoff appearance after the famous 1908 World Series win.

Then, in 2020, the Dodgers snapped a 13-appearance streak when they won the Fall Classic. That had begun in 1995, their first postseason appearance after winning it all in 1988, and persisted all the way through 2019, before that '20 triumph. The Dodgers’ streak was tied for the third-longest in history, behind only the Braves and Cubs noted above.

Who’s next?

If three of the longest streaks have ended, that leads to the question of which teams could be next up to snap long droughts of this nature. There are three teams with active streaks of 10 or more postseason appearances not leading to a title.

The A’s and Indians each have 13-appearance streaks, tied with the Dodgers streak that ended in 2020 for third-longest all-time -- at least for now. The A’s streak began with their 1990 postseason appearance after they won it all in ‘89. And Cleveland's streak began in 1954 after it won the World Series in '48. It’s worth noting that Cleveland has the longest active title drought, too, in addition to this postseason-appearance streak.

The other team with an active streak of at least 10 consecutive postseason appearances without a title is the Yankees at 10. The Bombers last won it all in 2009, and the 2010s was just the second decade without a title for the club in the Bronx since the 1910s, along with the '80s, and their first decade without even a pennant during that span.

The Yankees aren’t exactly a team anyone would say is starved for titles, with 27 overall, by far the most of any franchise. But the fact is that only two clubs have a longer active streak of postseason appearances without a title, which also tells you how often they find themselves playing October baseball.

But the wonderful thing about sports, and especially baseball, is that every streak is meant to be broken. And the recent experiences of the Braves, Dodgers and Cubs should provide plenty of hope for Cleveland, A's and Yankees fans entering their 2022 campaigns.