World Series: Eight Teams That Have Never Won
By Matt Veasey
Milwaukee Brewers
The franchise was founded as an American League expansion club in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, but relocated from the Emerald City after just one season to Milwaukee, becoming the Brewers for the 1970 campaign.
The Brewers were American League nomads, playing in the AL West (1969-71), East (1972-93), and Central (1994-97) before being moved to the National League Central Division for the 1998 season.
The club has been to the MLB postseason just four times. The first was in 1981 when the Brewers won the “second half” in the strike-shortened split season format, reaching the first-ever ALDS where they lost in five games to the New York Yankees.
In 1982 they won the AL East crown and in 2011 won the NL Central title. They were an NL Wild Card team in the 2008 season.
In 2008, the Brewers lost in four games in the NLDS to the eventual world champion Philadelphia Phillies.
In 2011, the Brewers had the best regular season record in franchise history at 96-66, defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games in the NLDS, but dropped the NLCS to the eventual world champion St. Louis Cardinals in six games.
It was the 1982 team, nicknamed “Harvey’s Wallbangers” as a nod to their slugging reputation and manager Harvey Kuenn, who would be the lone team in franchise history to reach the World Series to this point.
In the first-ever MLB playoff matchup between expansion teams, that Brew Crew squad rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to defeat the California Angels in what was then a best-of-five ALCS.
In the World Series, the Brewers crushed the St. Louis Cardinals 10-0 in the opener, and had a 3-2 lead in the series.
In the decisive seventh game, Milwaukee took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. But St. Louis rallied to win 6-3, denying the Brewers a championship.