What is the worst MLB team ever? The Chicago White Sox are on pace to be one of the worst MLB teams ever, playing at a level that hasn’t been seen in decades. While it’s a bit harder to compare teams across vastly different eras, it’s a good exercise to examine the worst MLB teams of all time.
For the sake of this exercise, we’re going to look past the worst records in baseball history before 1900. We’ll also be using winning percentage and run differential, when applicable, to compare some of the worst MLB teams ever.
2024 Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are on pace to be one of the worst teams in baseball history, even before they ship off some of their best players at the MLB trade deadline. Through their first 73 games, the White Sox had a -155 run differential with a .260 winning percentage. Putting that into perspective, the worst MLB team since the 1960s – 2003 Detroit Tigers – were 18-55 with a -136 run differential and a .247 winning percentage in their first 73 games. As for the 2024 White Sox, they also have one of the worst farm systems in MLB. It’s going to be grim for a long time.
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2019 Detroit Tigers – (47-114, .292)
Just get used to the Detroit Tigers appearing on the list of the worst MLB teams ever. Twice in the 2000s, this franchise finished a season with a -330 run differential or worse. Fans who lived through a miserable 2003 season thought they would never have to experience that again, but the 2019 Tigers were just as brutal. What makes it so much worse is that the No. 1 pick the following year, Spencer Torkelson, is now shaping up to be a draft bust for this franchise.
- Run Differential: -333 (Last in MLB)
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2018 Baltimore Orioles – (47-115, .290)
Baseball fans, especially the loyal supporters of the Baltimore Orioles, are plenty familiar with just how bad things were for this team for several years. From 2018-2021, Baltimore lost 100-plus games in a season three times. It was all-time ugly in 2018, when the Oriles finished with the worst run differential in baseball and were one of only two teams with an RD below -200.
- Run Differential: -270 (Last in MLB)
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2003 Detroit Tigers – (43-119, .265)
The Detroit Tigers are easily one of the worst MLB teams of all time. Beyond the fact that this team has the fifth-worst winning percentage in a single season during the Modern Era, their run differential speaks volumes. At the end of the 2003 season, only six other MLB teams had a run differential of -100 or worse and Detroit was the only team with it under 200. Putting things in even greater perspective, the TIgers’ run differential was almost equal to that of the next closest teams combined (-345).
- Run Differential: –337 (Last in MLB)
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1962 New York Mets – (40-120, .250)
There have been a lot of very bad baseball teams in the last 60-plus years, but few match the futility of the 1962 New York Mets. A team that had Frank Thomas (.824 OPS, 34 home runs) largely put itself in all-time worst territory because of a Mets pitching staff (5.04 ERA) that allowed 801 earned runs in 161 games, at a time when only two other teams allowed 700-plus runs. New York finished the ’62 season with a run differential that was more than 200 runs worse than the third-worst team (Houston Colt .45s, -125).
- Run Differential: -331 (Last in MLB)
1952 Pittsburgh Pirates – (42-112, .273)
The Pittsburgh Pirates are no stranger to being at the bottom of the MLB standings. After all, this is a franchise that has 10 100-loss seasons in its history, with four of those coming since 2000. However, the 1952 Pirates were in a class of their own for this club since the 1900s. In 1952, Pittsburgh had the worst ERA (4.65) and fewest runs scored (515) in baseball, resulting in a squad that finished with a run differential that was nearly 100 points lower than the second-worst team. They certainly did everything to earn the title as one of the worst MLB teams ever.fa
- Run Differential: -278 (Last in MLB)
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1942 Philadelphia Phillies – (42-109, .278)
The Philadelphia Phillies have consistently been one of the better teams in baseball for the past 20 years. However, no team better captured what it meant to be a cellar-dweller than the Phillies from 1921-1945. After posting a .298 winning percentage in 1939, Philadelphia’s baseball team followed that up with a .279 winning percentage in 1941. Somehow, the Phillies were even worse the following season. In 1942, the Phillies were one of only two teams with a run differential worse than -200. Ironically, the other team was the Philadelphia Athletics (-252).
- Run Differential: -312 (Last in MLB)
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1941 Philadelphia Phillies – (43-111, .279)
We’ve already highlighted the fact that two of the worst MLB teams in the Modern Era were the same club in consecutive years. The 1961 Philadelphia Phillies had a run differential that was worse than the Boston Red Sox (-128) and Philadelphia Athletics (-127) combined. In a season that saw 14 MLB teams score 630-plus runs, these Phillies only managed to score 501 in 514 games.
- Run Differential: -292 (Last in MLB)
1935 Boston Braves – (38-115, .248)
The 1935 Atlanta Braves are responsible for the second-worst winning percentage (.248) in a single season since the beginning of the Modern Era. They were even worse against teams with a winning record (14-73, .161) and scored 575 runs at a time when the second-worst output came from the Cincinnati Reds (646). Yet, this still wasn’t the worst team in the Modern Era.
- Run Differential: -277 (Last in MLB)
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1932 Boston Red Sox – (43-111, .279)
The 1932 Boston Red Sox have the worst run differential in MLB history. Boston recorded a .279 winning percentage across the 1932 season, allowing a whopping 915 runs across 154 games. If allowing over 900 runs wasn’t bad enough, Boston also scored just 566 runs. It was the only team in baseball to allow 900-plus runs and the only other club that scored under 600 runs, surrendered just 715 with a -140 run differential.
- Run Differential: -349 (Last in MLB)
1916 Philadelphia Athletics – (36-117, .235)
The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics were the worst MLB team of the Modern Era. They could almost never win on the road (13-64, .169( and they finished 24 games behind the second-worst team in baseball (St. Louis Cardinals). Across the 1916 season, the Athletics were 11-32 in one-run games and finished with a team ERA (3.92) nearly a full run worse than the other worst teams (St. Louis Cardinals, 3.14). Remarkably, they had the fourth-most complete games (94) in the majors.
- Run Differential: -329 (Last in MLB)
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1904 Washington Senators – (38-113, .252)
The 1904 Washington Senators couldn’t do anything. They finished with the worst OPS (.564) and batting average (.227) in baseball, resulting in Washington scoring the fewest runs (437) in MLB. Meanwhile, the Senators’ pitchers allowed the third-most runs (743) and this team finished with the fourth-worst fielding percentage (.951). Couldn’t hit, couldn’t pitch and couldn’t field, it’s no surprise they could rarely win.
- Run Differential: -306 (Last in MLB)
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