Major League Baseball this season is filled with good teams and bad teams. The bad teams are really bad, specifically in the American League. The Detroit Tigers are the first team this season to reach the 100-loss mark. However, they may not be the only team to reach that mark.
This season has the potential to have the most 100-loss teams in MLB history, dating back to 1876. 10 times in the sports history have three teams lost 100 games in a single season, this season already conquered one and has the chance to add four more teams.
The Tigers have already fallen under the 100-loss teams, but the Orioles (47-98), Miami Marlins (51-94), Royals (54-92), and Blue Jays (57-89) could all join that group. The Blue Jays are the least likely out of this group to reach 100 losses, seeing that they will need to lose 11 of their next 16 games, but it is still possible.
This season could make history, but let’s see where these teams stack up against some of the worst teams in MLB history. Since there is no chance that any of these teams could be on the top-10 list of teams with the worst winning percentage we will only be looking at teams who played more than 150 games.
Now I say there is no chance that any team could crack the top-10 list, but the Tigers have a chance, assuming they lose the remainder of their games. The 10th worst win percentage teams of all-time was the 2003 Detroit Tigers who finished at 43-119. It is not likely that the current Tigers will lose 19 straight to match the 03’ Tigers, but there is a slim probability.
2003 Detroit Tigers
In 2003 the Tigers had virtually no one on their roster, the best of which was Dimitri Young. Young had the most at-bats on the team and led with the highest batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. He was the best hitter on the team, but that isn’t saying much. Their team batting average (BA) was a dismal .240 with an on-base percentage (OBP) of .300. They scored 591 runs, struck out 1,099 times and only walked 443 times, that is a ratio of 2.54K/1BB. However, hitting wasn’t their worst aspect, that would be pitching.
On the mound they had a 5.3 ERA, gave up 557 walks and only had 714 strikeouts. Somehow, they didn’t have the worst ERA in the league that season but combined with their offense and defense, which was worst in the league with 138 errors and a .978 fielding percentage, they were one of the worst teams in modern history.
2019 Detroit Tigers
Offensively the 2019 Tigers may be even worse than the 03’ Tigers, with a team .240 BA, and a .294 OBP. They have taken free passes 350 times and struck out 1,437 times and scored 529 runs with 19 games left to play. Pitching wise they are a little better, but not by much, with a team ERA of 5.25 with 479 walks allowed and 1,201 strikeouts. Defensively is where we see the biggest difference in these two teams, the current Tigers have a .982 fielding percentage and 95 errors, both good for 10th in the AL. This team is bad, but they are not as bad as the 03’ Tigers or any of the other worst teams in MLB history.
2018 Baltimore Orioles
Last year’s Orioles team was one of the worst teams in the 21st century, not as bad as the 03’ Tigers, but bad, nonetheless. The fact that their most productive offensive player Manny Machado was traded midway through the season should tell you all you need to know about this team. Machado led the team in home runs (24), RBIs (65), and BA (.315) in only 96 games. The team overall batted .239, with an OBP of .298, with 622 runs scored, 422 walks and 1,412 strikeouts.
Pitching wise they had a league high 5.18 ERA, with 1,203 strikeouts, and 589 walks allowed. The defense wasn’t any better, ranking 13th in the league for fielding percentage (.982) and errors (104). Nothing went right for the Orioles last season, but they somehow managed to not finish with the worst record of the 21st century.
The 2019 Orioles are in the same boat as the 2019 Tigers, they can match their franchise worst record if they lose every game for the rest of the season.
2004 Arizona Diamondbacks
Now we go to the last team that will be featured from the 21st Century, in 2004 the Diamondbacks finished last in the NL West with a record of 51-111. The 04’ Diamondbacks were not a good team and they only had one saving grace, pitcher Randy Johnson. The D-Backs were an aging team who needed to start over. What better way to start over than finishing with the second worst record of the century up to that point. If they did not have Randy Johnson, who finished second in the Cy Young award race, then who knows how bad they could have been.
Their hitting really that bad for what we expect from bad teams, they had a .253 BA, .310 OBP, and scored 615 runs. However, they were a team on offense who had no pop, they had no power in their lineup whatsoever, with only 468 extra base hits, accounting for 33% of their total hits. Pitching wise they only had guy, Randy Johnson. Even with Johnson, they still had a 4.98 ERA with 668 walks allowed and 1,153 strikeouts. The losses were not all on bad pitching though, the defense did not help the team’s cause at all. Out of 899 runs the D-Backs allowed only 794 were earned.
The defense committed 139 errors and posted a .977 fielding percentage, both good for 16th in the NL. Again, one can only imagine how bad this team could have been without Randy Johnson. However, they did have Randy Johnson so they will only go down as the third worst team record wise of the 21st century.
1898 St. Louis Browns
We are going way back with this one, back before any kind of analytics ruled the game and people played to play. The St. Louis Browns were the worst team through 150 games in MLB history, until it was broken the next season, but we will get to them later. They were not the worst team by win percentage in history to that point, that belonged to the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys who were 23-113 (.169), but they did not play 150 games so they will not be discussed.
The game was much different back in the 1800s and early 1900s, contact was more important than power, they were still in the dead-ball era and runs were not a premium. Offensively, for the era they were bad with a .247 BA, .309 OBP, and 571 runs scored, all of them ranking last in the NL. To show how different the game really was, only three players had double digit home runs, the leader having 15. It was a station to station game and the Browns were not good at it.
The Browns pitching and defense was really bad, posting a 4.53 ERA they were the worst in the league, and they allowed 6.03 runs a game, good for 11th in the league out of 12 teams. Defensively they committed 388 errors and posted a .939 fielding percentage. It really isn’t any surprise they were so bad with the numbers they had, but only having a .260-win percentage is a different level of bad.
1962 New York Mets
The Mets had some bad teams in the 1960s, but none were worse than the 1962 Mets who posted a record of 40-120. The 62’ Mets have the third worst win percentage of any team since the modern era started (1900). The roster consisted of aging stars and players who could not find spots on any other team. In their inaugural season they were supposed to bring baseball back to New York, even though they had the Yankees, after the Dodgers and Giants both departed.
At the plate the Mets finished with a league worst .240 BA, and a .318 OBP good for eighth in the league while scoring a total of 617 runs. The best thing that the Mets did offensively was walk, they were very patient at the plate, drawing 616 free passes, good for best in the NL. However, just being on base couldn’t help the Mets win games, they found no way to bring the runners in off the bases.
Pitching wise they were terrible, posting a 5.04 ERA when the league average was 3.96. They allowed 571 free passes and had 772 strikeouts. For as bad as they were on the mound, they were even worse in the field. Out of 948 runs allowed, only 801 of them were earned. They committed 210 errors and posted a .967 fielding percentage both worst in the league. The Mets struggled through hard times in the 60s but made up for it by winning the 1969 World Series.
1935 Boston Braves
In 1935 the Braves were looking to draw fans in any way they could, they decided to bring in the 40-year old Babe Ruth by making false promises to him. Ruth only played in 28 games before retiring and the team was not good at all, with a finishing record of 38-115. They ranked last in the league in runs scored (575), BA (.263), and OBP (.311). At bat they were good at putting the ball in play, ranking first for the least strikeouts in the NL.
Pitching wise they were worst in the NL, posting a 4.93 ERA with 404 walks allowed while having 355 strikeouts. They were bad in the field, but somehow did not finish last in the NL, they ranked sixth out of eight in errors (197) and fielding percentage (.967). The Braves were not statistically one of the worst teams in history, but their end record shows they were, posting the third worst win percentage of any team with more than 150 games played.
1916 Philadelphia Athletics
The Philadelphia Athletics were one of the worst teams to ever play the game, they set an American League record for most losses, which stood for 87 years with 117 (36-117) until the 2003 Tigers came along and broke that. The Athletics had one of the greatest players of his generation Nap Lajoie, he was at the end of his career at 41 years old. Just two years prior the Athletics were the best team in the NL and made the World Series, the two years after were just dismal.
The Athletics were bad at the plate, but not all time bad, posting a .242 BA, .303 OBP, and scoring 447 runs. They were one of the best power teams in the league, finishing second in the AL with 19 home runs. Pitching wise they again were bad, but not all time bad, posting a 3.92 ERA. They had the most complete games in the AL that season with 94. On defense though they were a whole different level of bad.
The defense had 314 errors on the season, not helping the pitcher out at all, while posting a .951 fielding percentage. Bad teams always have at least one thing that they are historically bad at and this team was that bad at defense. Their offensive numbers make up for this a little bit, but we cannot forgive the record that is one of the worst in the history of the game.
1899 Cleveland Spiders
Now we get to the worst team of all time, in 1899 the Spiders played 154 games and lost 134 of them. This is partly because they traded all of their best players to themselves. The ownership of the Spiders purchased the St. Louis Browns and all the best Spider players were traded to the Browns.
They were not good in anything, offensively they ranked last in the NL in BA (.253), OBP (.299), and runs scored (529). They didn’t strike out as much as their counterparts, only having 280, but considering the only drew 289 free passes they had an abysmal ratio.
Pitching wise they were no better, they posted a historically high ERA at 6.37. They struck out 215 batters while walking 527. Their pitching was one of the all-time worst, but their defense may have been an even bigger plague than their pitching was. The Spiders allowed 1252 runs all season, and only 894 of them were earned. The defense committed 388 errors, somehow ranking seventh out of 12 teams and they posted a fielding percentage of .937 good for ninth in the league.
The Spiders were historically bad, their 20-134 is the worst win percentage in all of MLB history, sitting at .130. This would be the last season that the Spiders were a franchise and for good reason, they were so bad they should have never been allowed to set foot on a major league field.
It is very hard to compare teams of different eras, the game changes so much that we don’t have a good measurement on how teams stack up against one another. The only thing we can go off of is win percentage. This season has potential to have the most 100-loss teams out of any other season, but these teams do not stack up against the worst teams that we have ever seen in the game. Just because there are more bad teams doesn’t mean that they were worse, and these teams should be the evidence to that.