Worst MLB teams in history after White Sox’s record-breaking season

The White Sox finished their season out strong, winning five of their last six games. It prevented them from finishing with a record much worse than the second-worst team ever, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the title.

It was not long ago that the White Sox were looked at as one of the rising teams in the MLB. Their talent couldn’t stay healthy, though, and Chicago was forced to embrace a full blown rebuild. That rebuild saw the departures of a number of big names through the trade market. Notably, Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Erick Fedde, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Jake Burger, and many more were traded over the last year or so.

Because of that, a lot of losses were expected coming into the year, but no one could have guessed the White Sox would drop 121 games. Players such as Luis Robert and Garrett Crochet are considered some of the best players in baseball, yet the White Sox couldn’t score more runs than opposing teams all season.

Their 121-loss season goes down in the record books, and it could take decades until it is ever broken. There isn’t a lot of hope for the future, either. While the White Sox shouldn’t lose this many games next year, it is possible their fire sale continues and their roster outlook is even more bleak next season.

2. 1962 New York Mets (40-120)

Being an expansion team in MLB is never easy. Expansion teams often don’t have the talent on their roster to compete with the rest of the league, and that was evident in the Mets’ first season. Prior to the White Sox’s 2024 failure, the Mets held the record for the most losses in the modern era in their very first season.

The rotation was the Mets’ biggest problem area. New York’s starting pitchers combined for only 23 wins all season long. Pitching was far from the Mets’ only issue, though. Not only was their ERA the worst in baseball, but so was their batting average and their fielding percentage, meaning the Mets were pathetic at all aspects of baseball in 1962.

New York would continue to struggle over the coming years. They won 51, 53, and 50 games in the next three seasons, respectively. The team did eventually break out and win the World Series in 1969, though, but they’ve largely struggled for the most part ever since the poor start to their franchise’s existence.

3. 2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119)

After there being no 115-plus loss seasons in MLB since the ’60s, the 2003 Tigers went out and lost 119 games. That stood as the most losses in American League history until the 2024 White Sox dropped 121 games. Detroit had a -337 run differential over the course of the season.

The team’s batting average was only .240, and they were equally as bad throwing the baseball, as the team’s ERA was 5.30. The team started out the season with a 1-17 record. By winning five of their last six games, the Tigers actually saved themselves from ranking even worse on this list. Despite the disastrous campaign, the Tigers would bounce back and make the World Series only three years later.

4. 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117)

While they only have the fourth-most losses in MLB history, the Philadelphia Athletics actually hold the record for worst winning percentage ever (since 1901). In 1916, they finished the year with a winning percentage of .235, meaning this season was arguably even worse than the White Sox’s most recent campaign.

Amazingly, this horrendous season occurred only three years after the Athletics had won their third championship in a four year span. They even made the World Series as recently as 1914. The sudden collapse of a true dynasty was due to the team being forced to let their best players go, either via trade or release. Winning led to the team being unable to pay all of their star talent, so they focused their eyes on the future.

Even after the frustrating year, manager Connie Mack’s job was never in doubt. Mack ended up managing the team until 1951, and he even won two more World Series.

5. 1935 Boston Braves (38-115)

Babe Ruth is known for his winning ways, but when he was the vice president and assistant manager of the Boston Braves in 1935, his team didn’t do a lot of winning. Ruth is one of the first examples in sports of a legendary player not finding the same levels of success as a coach/front office member.

Ruth was also a player on this team. At age 40, Ruth played his first season outside of the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees organizations, but he was a shell of his former self. Ruth was so bad that some of his teammates threatened to go on strike if he was in the team’s lineup. Ruth did muster up a three home run game in one of his last few games, but he retired early into the season. Even without him, the Braves still struggled.

Ben Cantwell became the last pitcher in the 21st century to lose at least 25 games in a season, and the Braves ended the year with 115 losses.

6. 2018 Baltimore Orioles (47-115)

There is hope for the White Sox because years of lots of losing by the Baltimore Orioles not so long ago led to them orchestrating an incredible rebuild. Now, Baltimore is one of the best teams in baseball. Back in 2018, they were really bad. Before acquiring a talented young roster and building an exciting farm system, the Orioles had to lose in order to get such high draft picks and prestigious prospects.

The worst of their losing came in 2018 when the team dropped 115 games. They were 60 games behind their division rival Boston Red Sox, which was the biggest games back deficit since 1935. The team couldn’t find success against anybody, as they had a losing record against every single American League team.

Until the White Sox surpassed them this year, the Orioles held the record for quickest time being eliminated from playoff contention in the divisional era (since 1969). Chris Davis was the headliner of their struggles. His home run prowess resulted in a seven-year, $161 million deal, but the power hitter saw major regression after putting pen to paper. In what was just his third year under the new deal, Davis batted .168 and had a -2.7 WAR. It was the worst WAR by any player since the 2011 season.

The Orioles’ disastrous season was necessary in pushing the team in a different direction. Tanking isn’t as common in MLB as it is in the NBA, but this was the closest we’ve seen to it in recent memory in baseball. It worked out for Baltimore, too. The Orioles have had three different prospects be ranked as the number one prospect in baseball since this season, and they should now contend for World Series titles for the next decade or so.

7. 2019 Detroit Tigers (47-114)

A year after the Orioles had a disastrous season, the Tigers had one nearly as bad. Detroit also only won 47 games, but they had one fewer loss than Baltimore did the year prior. This is because the Tigers only played 161 games, as a late-season rainout was never rescheduled due to the Tigers and their opponent, the White Sox, missing the playoffs.

If it wasn’t for that rainout, the Tigers could have tied the Orioles’ record from the year prior. Detroit’s season actually started off well. They won seven of their first 11 games before losing 111 of 151 to follow. Detroit particularly struggled at home. Their 59 home losses were tied for the most in the modern era.

Like the Orioles, the Tigers’ poor play led to some good draft picks, and now they are back in the playoffs. The 2024 postseason will be the Tigers’ first time playing after the regular season since 2014.

The Tigers’ horrendous 2019 season makes them the only team to appear twice on this list of the 10 worst seasons in MLB history. Additionally, with three of the worst 10 teams ever being within the last decade, the likelihood of teams being historically bad is proving to be higher than ever before. The way rosters are constructed and the way the game is played these days has contributed to that.

8. 1904 Washington Senators (38-113)

While there have been some new school teams who have struggled mightily, the Washington Senators team from 1904 is the oldest team to qualify as one of the worst in the modern era, as their 38-113 season was just a few years after the modern era began.

The Senators’ season was doomed to fail from the start, as they started off 0-13-1 before collecting their first win. The Boston Americans gave Washington the most problems, as the Senators went 2-20 against that team in 1904.

The Senators’ season was so disappointing that the biggest crowd after the team’s Opening Day game was against an amateur team, as many showed up in belief that the amateurs would beat the professionals. That didn’t end up being the case, as the Senators proved that there are levels to sports with a 17-0 win.

9. 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates (42-112)

Prior to the modern era, high-loss seasons were relatively common. The Pittsburgh baseball team that went by the nickname the Alleghenys in 1890 lost 113 games, but that season doesn’t count for this list, as we are only looking at teams from 1901 and onward. Still, the 1952 baseball season in Pittsburgh was pretty bad, too.

The Pirates went 42-112 that year. Their struggles were largely predictable, as the team was filled with young and inexperienced players. Thirteen rookies made the Opening Day roster, four of which were teenagers. The team won two games in a row at the start of the year, but they then lost 16 of 17 and never had a winning streak greater than two again.

This youth movement was coined “Operation Peach Fuzz.” Seven of the eight youngest players in the National League were on the Pirates’ roster, and it led to a lot of growing pains.

10. 1939 St. Louis Browns (43-111)

Pitching was the detriment of the 1939 St. Louis Browns. The team had an ERA of 6.01, and another team wouldn’t have an ERA over 6.0 again until 1996. The Browns also walked 739 batters, which was over 100 more than the next worst pitching team in baseball.

Each of the nine pitchers with the most innings on the team had ERAs above 5.0. The team actually didn’t have a horrible year with the bats. George McQuinn, for example, batted .316 with 20 homers. It wasn’t enough to overcome the pitching woes that plagued the team in both the starting rotation and the bullpen, though, and St. Louis ended up with 111 losses.