The 5 worst teams in MLB history

The 2019 season couldn’t have ended soon enough for the Detroit Tigers. Ron’s Gardenhire’s woebegone club lost 114 games and could have finished even deeper in the cellar were it not for a fortuitous late season rainout.

Pick just about any metric and Detroit was near the bottom. "The Motor City Kitties" ranked dead last in the American League in total bases, on base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS, and found themselves 67 games below .500 when their campaign came to a merciful conclusion on Sept. 29. Had the Tigers been any further back, they would have needed a telescope to see first place.

As terrible as the Tigers were (and they were truly awful) they don’t hold a flame to these five historically bad Major League Baseball teams.

5. 2018 Baltimore Orioles (47-115)

March 29, 2018 was a big day for the Orioles. It was the only day of the season that Baltimore was in first place and above .500. After that, things went downhill in a hurry. Buck Showalter’s team stumbled to a wretched 28-69 record at the All-Star break, and officially threw in the towel in mid-July when it dealt stars Manny Machado, Zack Britton, Kevin Gausman, and Jonathan Schoop in a series of multi-player trades.

Their departures shone an even brighter spotlight on Chris Davis, at a time when the slugging first baseman probably wished he could have crawled under a rock and disappeared. "Crush" struggled through a 0-for-54 slump and finished the season with the lowest batting average among qualifying players in MLB history. So yeah, it was that kind of year.

4. 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117)

It’s seldom been easy being a Philly sports fan, but it was downright impossible in 1916 when the Athletics lost a franchise record 117 games. The reason for their ineptitude was simple: Manager and team owner Connie Mack sold off most of his aging stars prior to the season and gave the reins to a bunch of bushers who weren’t ready for primetime.

Gone were Hall of Famers Eddie Collins and Home Run Baker, and in their place were Whitey Witt, a seminary student who committed 78 errors at shortstop, and Elmer Myers, a journeyman hurler who lost 23 games and led the league in earned runs and walks.

"The Pathetics", as the team became known, were shutout 14 times and finished the season 54.5 games out of first place.

3. 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys (23-113)

Unlike many of the teams on our list, the Alleghenys actually entered their season with high hopes. Pittsburgh had finished fifth in the league the previous year and had a rock solid roster featuring three future hall of famers in Pud Galvin, Jake Beckley, and Ned Hanlon. There was just one teeny problem: none of them played a single inning for the team that season.

All three players – and many of their talented teammates – defected for the Pittsburgh Burghers of the upstart Players League just before opening day. Their absence left the Alleghenys with a bunch of stiffs who didn’t know which end of the bat to hold. Not surprisingly, Guy Hecker’s ragtag team lost 113 games and finished a whopping 66.5 games behind the first place Brooklyn Bridegrooms.

2. 1962 New York Mets (40-120)

They say you never forget your first, but we’re willing to bet there are thousands of New Yorkers who would love to forget about the Mets first season in the major leagues. The Metropolitans lost their first nine games of the season and suffered through nine losing streaks of five games or more.

New York’s starting pitchers combined for just 23 wins all season and the Mets finished last in in batting average, ERA, and fielding percentage. Embattled manager Casey Stengel put it best when he said, "Can't anybody here play this game?"

1. 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134)

Have you ever wondered why Major League Baseball prohibits investors from owning multiple teams? Look no further than the Cleveland Spiders. The team’s unscrupulous owners entered into a classic conflict of interest in 1899 when they bought the St. Louis Browns. Owning two teams simultaneously would have been bad enough, but they doubled down by shipping all of Cleveland’s best players to the Gateway City. The result was six losing streaks of 10 games or more and a miserable .130 "winning" percentage.

It didn’t take long for fans to wise up to what had happened to their beloved club. The Spiders averaged fewer than 200 fans per game for their first 16 home dates and ended up playing 112 games on the road after rival teams refused to visit League Park due to the paltry gate receipts.

The Spiders were hastily disbanded following the season, but continue to serve as a not-so-subtle reminder of the dangers of collusion.

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