The 29 most hopeless fan bases in professional sports

24. Houston Astros

Last Championship: Never

Last winning season: 2015

Between two leagues, two stadiums, and the ever important (or dubious) innovation of Astroturf, the run of the Houston Astros has been perhaps less noteworthy than that of the artificial grass that bears their name.

The Astros brought Major League Baseball to Space City in 1962 as the Houston Colt 45’s, and were predictably terrible for their first dozen seasons, only reaching .500 once in that time. It took the Astros organization 18 years to reach the postseason and 43 years to reach the World Series, where they were swept by the Chicago White Sox, who themselves broke an 87 year championship skid in that series.

What’s perhaps most frustrating about the Astros is not their lack of titles (although they currently have the third longest World Series drought in all of baseball, and the longest for a team that has never won one in history), but the fact that they’re almost never completely terrible. Their ranks have been lined with great players over the years, from Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott to the Killer B’s of the mid late 90s thru mid-2000s, and currently with Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. This is a team that always seems to be in the mix, but just far enough away to never be more than a forgettable footnote.

Next: 23. Vancouver Canucks