The drought continues
No championship parades in New York City!
Last week, the Texas Rangers won the first championship in its 62-year history, dating back to its 1961 debut as the expansion Washington Senators and subsequent move to Texas following the 1971 MLB season. I am happy for Rangers fans - they've certainly waited long enough - and am also happy that ex-Mets Jacob deGrom and Travis Jankowski are getting rings. (There is another ex-Met who is getting a ring too, but I forget his name. I guess he didn't make that much of an impression on me…)
In any case, with the conclusion of the MLB season, it reminds me that New York is in the longest four-sport (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) championship drought ever - and yes, I am including Buffalo in the conversation here. They play in New York, do they not?
We have to go back to February 5, 2012 to find the last champion from the NYC metro or upstate areas - the NFL's Giants, who beat the Patriots that year to become the first 9-7 team to win it all. There were a few teams to make the finals in subsequent years, including the Devils in the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, which they lost in six to the Los Angeles Kings, the Rangers in the 2014 Cup Finals, which they lost in five to the Kings, and then the Mets, who made it to the 2015 World Series, and lost that in five games to the Royals. (New York's kryptonite must be team names involving royalty?)
Since that title, there has also been a fairly steady stream of NY-area teams to make it to the semifinal round, but stop there: 2012 (Rangers, Yankees), 2015 (Rangers), 2017 (Yankees), 2019 (Yankees), 2020 (Bills, Islanders) and 2022 (Rangers, Yankees). Good seasons? Yes. Relegated to the recycle bin of NY sports fans' memories? Also yes.
Outside of the big four sports, there have been some recent successes. Although the New York Liberty fell to the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA finals just a few weeks ago, the New York City FC won the MLS Cup championship in 2021, and in professional women's hockey, Buffalo won the now-defunct NWHL's Isobel Cup in 2017, and then the New Jersey-based Metropolitan Riveters defeated Buffalo for the title the following year.
Getting back to the “big four”, I get the sense that New York’s sports teams might be turning a corner. Earlier this year, all five NYC-area sports teams in the NBA and NHL made the playoffs for the first time since 1994, when the Rangers won the Cup and the Knicks fell one victory short of winning it all. The Sabres, meanwhile, missed out on the NHL postseason by just one point.
What does the near future hold? Let's start with the NFL, which is roughly at its midway point. (Note: All team records that follow are as of Monday morning.) The Bills (5-4) and Jets (4-3) are in the mix for playoff spots, although it's hard to imagine either of them getting by the Chiefs, Dolphins or Ravens in a hypothetical AFC title matchup. The 2-7 Giants? Ew, gross. It's going to be a while before they're back in the running for another Super Bowl title.
Every team in the NHL at this point has logged at least 10 games, and the Rangers (17 points), Devils (15) and Islanders (13) occupy three of the Eastern Conference's top six spots, with Buffalo sitting one point back of the Isles. The playoff picture will certainly be different at the end of the regular season, but as it stands right now the three NYC teams are in, and Buffalo is on the bubble, which is exactly where the four teams wound up last season.
Moving over to the NBA, the Brooklyn Nets are 3-3 and the Knicks are 2-4. Not expecting much from either. The end. I must admit that I stopped investing time and effort in following the Knicks because team owner James Dolan is a despicable human being.
As far as our baseball teams go, the sooner we can put this year behind us, the better. The Mets (75-87) salvaged a miserable 2023 season by trading nearly all of their expiring/short-term contracts for prospects that figure to make the team more competitive in the coming years. The Yankees (82-80) just barely notched their 31st straight winning season, which is the longest active streak in baseball and second longest all-time; I doubt that streak ends any time soon, and after some retooling this offseason the Bombers should be World Series contenders once again.
So given all this, which of these teams will be most likely to end the drought? I think it's going to come from the NHL. Rangers or Devils? Yes. Islanders or Sabres? Eh, probably not.
There you have it! Do you agree? Disagree? Drop a comment below, or click on any of the social media links at the top of the page to share your thoughts!
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On a more personal note, I would like to wish my parents a very happy 50th anniversary, which is coming up later this week. Mom and Dad, congratulations, and thank you for your unwavering support and guidance; I most certainly would not be the person I am today without you. I love you.