15 Best Active MLB Players Who Have Never Won a World Series
Not all players get to experience winning a championship.
Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, Ernie Banks, Robin Yount, Roy Halladay, Jeff Bagwell, Harmon Killebrew, Trevor Hoffman and Adrian Beltre are just a few of the retired greats who never won a ring.
We set out to identify the best active players in danger of joining that list. Players were ranked on their full body of work. To be considered for a spot on our list, a player had to be at least 30 years old.
Let's be honest, no one talks about a 25-year-old never winning a championship like it's a legacy-defining gap in their resume. That notably excluded Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Jose Ramirez, who are closing in on their age-30 seasons, among others.
Of the 15 players we highlighted, four are still in the 2021 postseason. Will this be their year?
We'll start with a rundown of Nos. 11 through 15 and a few honorable mentions before taking a deeper dive on the top 10.
Nos. 15-11
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15. Mark Melancon, San Diego Padres
Melancon sits fourth among active pitchers with 244 career saves, including an MLB-leading 39 in his first season with the Padres in 2021. The 36-year-old has been to the postseason six times with three different teams, but he has yet to play in the Fall Classic, falling one win shy with the Atlanta Braves last year.
14. Josh Donaldson, Minnesota Twins
A late-bloomer with a relatively short peak, Donaldson has nonetheless racked up 44.4 WAR in 11 MLB seasons. The 2015 AL MVP has two guaranteed years left on his contract with the Twins, who tumbled down the AL Central standings this year after back-to-back division titles. Could he find his way to a contender via trade this winter?
13. Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres
With 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings during his MLB career, Darvish ranks third on the all-time list in that category. The 35-year-old has a 3.56 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 1,591 strikeouts in 1,293.1 innings over nine MLB seasons, but he has not fared as well in October, memorably getting shelled by the Houston Astros in the 2017 World Series. It was almost like they knew what pitch was coming.
12. Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals
A six-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner, Arenado took a big step toward shaking the stigma of Coors Field-fueled production in 2021. In his first season with the Cardinals, he posted a 121 OPS+ with 34 doubles, 34 home runs and 105 RBI in a 4.2-WAR season. He has yet to advance beyond the Division Series, and that trend continued with Wednesday night's loss.
11. Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees
Injuries have derailed Stanton at various points, but he remains one of the most feared sluggers in baseball when healthy. The 31-year-old won NL MVP honors in 2017 with a 59-homer, 132-RBI season for the Miami Marlins. After failing to reach the postseason with the Marlins, he is still searching for his first World Series appearance in pinstripes.
Honorable Mentions: Jose Abreu (CWS), Michael Brantley (HOU), Sonny Gray (CIN), Carlos Santana (KC), Andrelton Simmons (MIN), Justin Upton (LAA), Zack Wheeler (PHI)
10. Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves
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Freddie Freeman endured three straight 90-loss seasons early in his career before coming out the other side as the face of the franchise for an Atlanta Braves team that has now won four straight NL East titles.
An All-Star for the first time during a breakout 2013 season, he has posted a 144 OPS+ with 39.4 WAR to rank seventh among all position players over the past nine seasons.
The Braves were one win away from reaching the World Series last year, and Freeman did his part by going 9-for-25 with three doubles, two home runs and six RBI in the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Will he re-sign with the Braves this winter? They seem to be as well-positioned as any team in baseball for long-term success thanks to a dynamic young core and a deep farm system.
9. Andrew McCutchen, Philadelphia Phillies
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The No. 11 pick in the 2005 draft, Andrew McCutchen helped pave the way for the Pittsburgh Pirates to snap a 20-year postseason drought.
A dynamic five-tool talent early in his career, he took home NL MVP honors in 2013 and finished in the top five in the balloting three other times at his peak in Pittsburgh. All told, he has tallied 46.0 WAR in 13 seasons with 270 home runs, 197 steals and a 131 OPS+.
The Pirates were ousted in the NLDS in their long-awaited return to the postseason in 2013 and then eliminated in the NL Wild Card Game in each of the next two seasons. McCutchen returned to the playoffs in 2018 with the New York Yankees but again failed to advance beyond the Division Series.
The 34-year-old has a $15 million club option with the Philadelphia Phillies for next season that carries a $3 million buyout, and that will be a tough decision for the front office after he logged a 109 OPS+ with 27 home runs and 80 RBI in 2021.
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8. Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals
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A two-time runner-up in NL MVP voting, Paul Goldschmidt has returned to elite form after a disappointing first season with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019.
Since the start of the 2020 season, he has a 144 OPS+ in 910 plate appearances, and he used a terrific second half this year to help propel the Cardinals into a wild-card spot sparked by a 17-game winning streak.
The 34-year-old is a career .293/.389/.521 hitter with 280 home runs, 927 RBI and 140 steals, good for 50.7 WAR in 11 seasons. That already ranks 25th all-time among first basemen, and he could move into the top 15 within the next few years.
He has played in five different postseasons, but the closest he's come to the World Series was a trip to the NLCS in 2019 when the Cardinals were swept in four games by the Washington Nationals.
7. Corey Kluber, New York Yankees
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Just 21 pitchers in MLB history have won multiple Cy Young Awards since the first one was handed out in 1956.
Corey Kluber is part of that exclusive club, taking home the hardware in 2014 and 2017 during an impressive five-year peak in Cleveland in which he was unquestionably one of the best pitchers in baseball.
- 2014: 18-9, 2.44 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 269 K, 235.2 IP
- 2015: 9-16, 3.49 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 245 K, 222.0 IP
- 2016: 18-9, 3.14 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 227 K, 215.0 IP
- 2017: 18-4, 2.25 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 265 K, 203.2 IP
- 2018: 20-7, 2.89 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 222 K, 215.0 IP
The 35-year-old did his part during Cleveland's 2016 playoff run, posting a 1.83 ERA in 34.1 innings while starting Games 1, 4 and 7 of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs. In the end, it wasn't enough, and that remains the closest he's come to winning a ring.
6. Evan Longoria, San Francisco Giants
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Evan Longoria debuted as a 22-year-old in 2008, earning an All-Star nod and taking home AL Rookie of the Year honors while helping lead a 97-win Tampa Bay Rays team to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.
He hasn't been back since.
In fact, this year will be the first time since 2013 that Longoria is even playing in the postseason, and his first time suiting up in October with a team other than the Rays.
The 36-year-old has a 120 OPS+ with 317 home runs, 1,089 RBI and 57.4 WAR in 14 seasons, and there's a relatively easy case to be made that he's one of the 20 greatest third basemen in MLB history.
5. Nelson Cruz, Tampa Bay Rays
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If Nelson Cruz could have found a way to track down a fly ball off the bat of David Freese in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, we're not talking about him on this list.
Then again, he had a .959 OPS with eight home runs and 16 RBI in 17 games that postseason while winning ALCS MVP honors, so maybe the Texas Rangers never would have made it that far without him.
One thing is for sure: Cruz can flat-out rake, and he is showing no signs of slowing down.
He wrapped up his age-40 season with a 130 OPS+ and 32 home runs, splitting 2021 between Minnesota and Tampa Bay after finishing sixth in AL MVP voting a year ago.
He has 449 home runs for his career to go along with a 133 OPS+ and 1,238 RBI in 17 seasons. Not bad for a guy who didn't become an everyday player in the big leagues until he was 28 years old and playing for his fourth organization.
4. Jacob deGrom, New York Mets
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Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball.
Injuries cut short what was shaping up to a historically good season for the New York Mets ace and robbed him of a chance at this third NL Cy Young Award in the past four years. He finished with a 1.08 ERA, 0.55 WHIP and 146 strikeouts in 92 innings over 15 starts.
In his eight big league seasons, he has established himself as one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball history. His 157 ERA+ ranks fourth on the all-time list among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched, trailing only Mariano Rivera (205) and a pair of Negro League standouts in Bill Foster (164) and Bullet Rogan (161).
His only postseason experience came in 2015 when the Mets lost to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. He went 3-1 with a 2.88 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 25 innings that postseason but took the loss in Game 2 of the World Series.
3. Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
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If Joey Votto retired today, would he be a Hall of Famer?
It's an interesting debate for a player who has never fit the mold of a prototypical power-hitting first baseman but who has hit .302/.416/.520 with 2,027 hits, 331 home runs and 1,065 RBI in 15 seasons.
His 64.4 WAR ranks 12th all-time among first basemen, and everyone ahead of him on that list besides still active Albert Pujols and Rafael Palmeiro, who was suspended for performance-enhancing drug use, is enshrined in Cooperstown. He is also a six-time All-Star and one-time NL MVP.
However, he's missing a ring, and he has played in just 11 postseason games, never advancing beyond the Division Series.
2. Zack Greinke, Houston Astros
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Zack Greinke ranks third among active pitchers and 36th all-time with 68.0 WAR, and the list of pitchers above him on that list who played during the World Series era (1903-now) and never won a ring is a short one:
- Kid Nichols
- Phil Niekro
- Gaylord Perry
- Robin Roberts
- Mike Mussina
- Fergie Jenkins
- Don Sutton
- Rick Reuschel
The 37-year-old won AL Cy Young all the way back in 2009, and he has finished in the top five in voting two other times during his 18-year career. He has a 219-132 record with a 3.41 ERA (123 ERA+), 1.16 WHIP and 2,809 strikeouts in 3,110 innings, and he is no stranger to the postseason.
In 106.2 career playoff innings, he has a 4.22 ERA and 1.18 WHIP, but he is still chasing that elusive first ring. He made two starts in the 2019 World Series as a member of the Houston Astros, but that's his only Fall Classic experience.
With free agency looming this offseason, he'll almost certainly prioritize contention with his next team.
1. Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
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Who else?
Mike Trout is on a trajectory to finish his career as one of the greatest players to ever step foot on a baseball field, yet he has only played in the postseason once in his 11 years in the majors, and the Los Angeles Angels didn't make it out of the ALDS.
Signed through the 2030 season on a massive 12-year, $426.5 million contract, he has left it in the hands of the Angels front office to build a winner around him.
So far, they've whiffed, due in large part to an inability to assemble a viable starting rotation after missing out on signing a number of high-profile arms.
At 30 years old, Trout is still in the prime of his career, but after a sixth straight losing season, contention still looks like a daunting uphill battle.
All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.
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