There have been quite a few well-known sports curses over the years. Curses such as the Curse of the Bambino, the Curse of the Billy Goat, and the Curse of Billy Penn have led to torture for fans and players alike. However, the curse that nobody seems to talk about is the DC Sports Curse.

The Capitals, Redskins, Wizards, and Nationals have combined for zero conference finals appearances over the last 18 years and one championship in the last 24 years. The last time a DC team made the conference finals was the Capitals in 1998, when they defeated the Buffalo Sabres in six games to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals where they were blown out by a powerful Detroit Red Wings team. This also represents the last time a DC team made it to a championship series or game. The last time a DC team won a league championship was when the Redskins won Super Bowl XXVI in 1992 after going 14-2 during the regular season.

Since then, DC teams in the playoffs have been a colossal failure as time after time they have disappointed their fans. This failure to win in the post-season has been both logical – the Wizards are never really good enough to be a real threat in the Eastern Conference – and heartbreaking. On the heartbreaking side are the famous collapses in DC sports playoff history. One of the most recent examples was the 2012 National League Division Series when, in Game 5, the Nationals, despite leading 7-5 in the 9th inning against the Cardinals, managed to choke up the lead, the game, and the series. Just three outs from advancing to the National League Championship Series, the Nats allowed the Cardinals to score four runs in the 9th inning to stun the Nationals, their fans, and the entire region.

Another epic collapse was in 2015 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Capitals, despite leading 3 games to 1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, managed to choke once again. The Caps were one win away from moving to the franchise’s first conference final since 1998 but lost 3 in a row to the Rangers. This was just the latest in what has become common for the Caps, a team that has blown three-games-to-one leads five times, the most in the NHL. Even though these facts present a pretty dark past for the Caps, they remain the city’s second best shot at a championship as players like Alex Ovechkin, Nicholas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Braden Holtby are in their prime and among the best in the league.

The Nationals have the best chance to break the curse because of their superstar roster with players like Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer. Of course, like the Caps, the only thing that is really stopping the Nationals is themselves. There really is no excuse that a team with all the talent in the world has not been able to advance to the NLCS and the World Series. If they hope to do it next year, they’ll need Scherzer and Harper at their best, Stephen Strasburg back at full health – for the whole season – and Daniel Murphy to play at an MVP-type level once. Add in some luck and calm nerves once the playoffs begin, and they could break the curse for DC.

While the Redskins are the last team from DC to win a championship, Skins fans should not be too excited about them being the next champion in the area. Since that magical 1991 season that culminated in the Super Bowl win over the Buffalo Bills, the Redskins have gone 166-224-2 and made the playoffs only 6 times. In all this time, they have not succeeded because they play inconsistent defense and seem to have a rotating quarterback issue, and that is going to cost them any shot at a Super Bowl.

The last time a Wizards team won a championship was 1978 when they were still called the Washington Bullets, and has not made the conference finals since 1979. The truth is, the Wizards have the least chance to break the curse because the Eastern Conference is dominated by LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers and there is no team in the East, never mind the Wiz, that is going to beat the Cavaliers in the playoffs.
The curse of the Bambino, the curse of Billy Penn, and the Curse of the Billy Goat have all ended in the last 12 years, so the DC sports curse could end in the near future as well. Time will tell – and the fans in the DC area will keep watching and hoping to witness history that this city has not seen in 24 years.