List of worst Major League Baseball season win–loss records
Listed below are the Major League Baseball teams with the worst season won-lost records, as determined by win percentage (.300 or less), minimum 120 games played.
Season records
The following teams finished the season with a .300 winning percentage or lower.
- Legend
- NL = National League
- AL = American League
- AA = American Association
- PL = Players' League
1886–1900
Season | Franchise | League | Wins | Losses | Pct. | GB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1899 | Cleveland Spiders | NL | 20 | 134 | .130 | 84 |
1890 | Pittsburgh Alleghenys
|
NL | 23 | 113 | .169 | 66½ |
1889 | Louisville Colonels | AA | 27 | 111 | .196 | 66½ |
1897 | St. Louis Browns
|
NL | 29 | 102 | .221 | 63½ |
1886 | Washington Nationals
|
NL | 28 | 92 | .233 | 60 |
1886 | Kansas City Cowboys | NL | 30 | 91 | .248 | 58½ |
1898 | St. Louis Browns
|
NL | 39 | 111 | .260 | 63½ |
1895 | Louisville Colonels | NL | 35 | 96 | .267 | 52½ |
1890 | Buffalo Bisons
|
PL | 36 | 96 | .273 | 46½ |
1894 | Louisville Colonels | NL | 36 | 94 | .277 | 54 |
1896 | Louisville Colonels | NL | 38 | 93 | .290 | 53 |
1887 | Indianapolis Hoosiers
|
NL | 37 | 89 | .294 | 43 |
1895 | St. Louis Browns
|
NL | 39 | 93 | .295 | 48½ |
1887 | Cleveland Blues
|
AA | 39 | 92 | .298 | 54 |
Modern era (1901–present)
Season | Franchise | League | Wins | Losses | Pct. | GB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1916 | Philadelphia Athletics | AL | 36 | 117 | .235 | 54½ |
1935 | Boston Braves
|
NL | 38 | 115 | .248 | 61½ |
1962 | New York Mets | NL | 40 | 120 | .250 | 60½ |
1904 | Washington Senators
|
AL | 38 | 113 | .252 | 55½ |
1919 | Philadelphia Athletics | AL | 36 | 104 | .257 | 52 |
2003 | Detroit Tigers | AL | 43 | 119 | .265 | 47 |
1952 | Pittsburgh Pirates | NL | 42 | 112 | .273 | 54½ |
1909 | Washington Senators
|
AL | 42 | 110 | .276 | 56 |
1942
|
Philadelphia Phillies | NL | 42 | 109 | .278 | 62½ |
1939 | St. Louis Browns | AL | 43 | 111 | .279 | 64½ |
1932 | Boston Red Sox | AL | 43 | 111 | .279 | 64 |
1941 | Philadelphia Phillies | NL | 43 | 111 | .279 | 57 |
1915 | Philadelphia Athletics | AL | 43 | 109 | .283 | 58½ |
1928 | Philadelphia Phillies | NL | 43 | 109 | .283 | 51 |
2018 | Baltimore Orioles | AL | 47 | 115 | .290 | 61 |
2019 | Detroit Tigers | AL | 47 | 114 | .291 | 54 |
1911 | Boston Rustlers
|
NL | 44 | 107 | .291 | 54 |
1909 | Boston Doves
|
NL | 45 | 108 | .294 | 65½ |
1911 | St. Louis Browns | AL | 45 | 107 | .296 | 56½ |
1939 | Philadelphia Phillies | NL | 45 | 106 | .298 | 50½ |
1937 | St. Louis Browns | AL | 46 | 108 | .299 | 56 |
1945 | Philadelphia Phillies | NL | 46 | 108 | .299 | 52 |
1938 | Philadelphia Phillies | NL | 45 | 105 | .300 | 43 |
1898 St. Louis Browns and 1899 Cleveland Spiders
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders own the worst single-season record of all time (minimum 120 games) and for all eras, finishing at 20–134 (.130 percentage) in the final year of the National League's 12-team era in the 1890s; for comparison, this projects to 21–141 under the current 162-game schedule, and Pythagorean expectation based on the Spiders' results and the current 162-game schedule predicts a record of 24–138.
The Spiders had reasonable success in the 1890s, with seven straight winning seasons from 1892 to 1898 and a
The
Due to paltry attendances, the Spiders played 112 games on the road, finishing with a road record of 11–101 (the 101 road losses is a record which is unbreakable under the current MLB scheduling rules, which allow a maximum of 81 road games).
The 1899 Browns, renamed the "Perfectos" and staffed with all the best players from the 1898 Spiders (six of the Spiders' eight starting position players, and four starting pitchers, including the great Cy Young) improved by 44½ games, from 39–111 to 84–67. However, all St. Louis ultimately did was trade places with Cleveland in the standings. The Browns/Perfectos were renamed the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900, and are unrelated to the American League St. Louis Browns that adopted the discarded nickname and also appear on this list.
After the 1899 season, the National League contracted from twelve to eight clubs for the 1900 season, with the Spiders, the
The downsized 1900 National League allowed the
Pre-1886 teams
With shorter schedules before 1886, it was much more common for teams to finish with sub-.300 winning percentages, as there was less of the evening-out effect of a longer season, and some seasons had a number of teams, with nine in 1884 alone (between the three leagues that year).
In the list below (minimum 15 games played), four teams finished with worse overall winning percentages than the 1899 Spiders, but these teams played in leagues whose status as "major" is questionable: three of these occurred in the National Association (its status as a major league has long been disputed), and the other occurred in the Union Association (conventionally listed as a major league, but this status has been questioned due to the league's overall lack of playing talent and poor organizational structure).
Further to this, contemporary
- Legend
- NA = National Association
- NL = National League
- AA = American Association
- UA = Union Association
Season | Franchise | League | Wins | Losses | Pct. | GB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1875 | Brooklyn Atlantics | NA | 2 | 42 | .045 | 51.5 |
1873 | Elizabeth Resolutes | NA | 2 | 21 | .087 | 23 |
1872 | Brooklyn Eckfords
|
NA | 3 | 26 | .103 | 27 |
1884 | Wilmington Quicksteps | UA | 2 | 16 | .111 | 44.5 |
1876 | Cincinnati Reds | NL | 9 | 56 | .139 | 42.5 |
1875 | New Haven Elm Cities | NA | 7 | 40 | .149 | 48 |
1871 | Rockford Forest Cities | NA | 4 | 21 | .160 | 15.5 |
1883 | Philadelphia Quakers | NL | 17 | 81 | .173 | 46 |
1875 | Washington Nationals | NA | 5 | 23 | .179 | 40.5 |
1884 | Washington Nationals | AA | 12 | 51 | .191 | 41 |
1874 | Baltimore Canaries | NA | 9 | 38 | .192 | 31.5 |
1884 | Kansas City Cowboys | UA | 16 | 63 | .203 | 61 |
1873 | Washington Blue Legs
|
NA | 8 | 31 | .205 | 25 |
1875 | St. Louis Red Stockings | NA | 4 | 15 | .210 | 37 |
1882 | Worcester Worcesters | NL | 18 | 66 | .214 | 37 |
1876 | Philadelphia Athletics | NL | 14 | 45 | .237 | 34.5 |
1884 | Altoona Mountain City
|
UA | 6 | 19 | .240 | 44 |
1878 | Milwaukee Grays | NL | 15 | 45 | .250 | 26 |
1884 | Detroit Wolverines | NL | 28 | 84 | .250 | 56 |
1879 | Troy Trojans | NL | 19 | 56 | .253 | 35.5 |
1882 | Baltimore Orioles | AA | 19 | 54 | .260 | 32.5 |
1880 | Cincinnati Stars | NL | 21 | 59 | .263 | 44 |
1877 | Cincinnati Reds | NL | 15 | 42 | .263 | 25.5 |
1884 | Indianapolis Hoosiers | AA | 29 | 78 | .271 | 46 |
1884 | Pittsburgh Allghenys | AA | 30 | 78 | .278 | 45.5 |
1884 | Richmond Virginians | AA | 12 | 30 | .286 | 30.5 |
1883 | Baltimore Orioles | AA | 28 | 68 | .292 | 37 |
1880 | Buffalo Bisons | NL | 24 | 58 | .293 | 42 |
Other teams 1886–present
The 1889 Colonels finished 9–65 on the road, and their .122 road winning percentage is the third lowest in MLB history for a minimum of 60 games.
The 1890 Alleghenys were gutted before the season when nearly all of their best players defected to the Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players' League. Poor attendances meant that they played 97 of their 136 games on the road, finishing with a road record of 9–88: the 88 road losses remained a record until 1899, and is unreachable under current MLB scheduling rules, with the Alleghenys' .093 road winning percentage being the lowest in MLB history for a minimum of 60 games.
The Philadelphia Athletics were a dominant team in the early 1910s, winning American League pennants in 1913 and 1914 and the World Series in 1913. However, owner-manager Connie Mack felt that he was unable to pay his star players' salaries while the Federal League was in operation, and he sold or traded most of them after the 1914 World Series, in which the A's were upset by the Boston Braves in a 4-game sweep. The Athletics then finished in last place from 1915 to 1922. In 1916, they went 36–117, including 13–64 on the road. The 1916 Athletics' .235 winning percentage is the sixth-lowest of any MLB team and the lowest since 1900, along with their .170 road winning percentage.
The 1935
The 1962
The
Three years after losing 119 games, Detroit went 95–67 and won their 10th American League pennant, before losing the
The 2018 Baltimore Orioles were the first team since the 2003 Tigers to win fewer than 50 games. They lost their season series against all American League opponents, and also lost at least one game against all teams. They only won two season series overall, both in interleague play, and finished 61 games behind the eventual AL East and World Series champion Boston Red Sox, further back from the lead than any team since World War II.
Although the 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates had a 19–41 record, the fewest wins in a regular season since 1886, it is ignored because this took place in a pandemic-shortened season of sixty games, since the winning percentage was .317, higher than the .300 cutoff mentioned here.
See also
- List of best Major League Baseball season win–loss records
References
- ^ Baseball Prospectus | Unfiltered
- ^ September 27, 2003 Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers Box Score and Play by Play – Baseball-Reference.com
- ^ Pitchers with 20 or More Losses – Baseball-Reference.com
- ^ The SABR Baseball List and Record Book: Baseball's Most Fascinating Records and Unusual Statistics. Society for American Baseball Research. 2007. p. 141.
- ^ "2003 Detroit Tigers Baseball Graphs Review". BaseballGraphs.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2008. Retrieved September 26, 2008.
External links and further reading
- Statistics and game logs at Baseball Reference
- "The 1899 Cleveland Spiders: Baseball's Worst Team" article by David Fleitz
- "Nothing worse than the 1899 Cleveland Spiders" ESPN article by Rob Neyer. Neyer's 10 worst teams of all time.
- Neyer, Rob, and Eddie Epstein. Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time. Norton, 2000, 384 p.
- Excerpt from Chapter 8 ("The Worst Teams of All Time") of Neyer and Epstein's Baseball Dynasties.
- On a Clear Day They Could See Seventh Place: Baseball's Worst Teams, by George Robinson. Profiles of several of the teams on this list.
- MISFITS! Baseball's Worst Ever Team, by J. Thomas Hetrick. About the 1899 Spiders.
- ^ The Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals season is still ongoing, and they are so far on this list.