by Bruce Bostwick

Created on: February 25, 2008   Last Updated: January 02, 2012

Major League Baseball has seen some really good teams but has also seen some really bad teams. In fact, sometimes a record could be so bad that it could be impossible for anyone to break whatsoever. The question is about who is the worst team in baseball history. To be fair, it should be broken up into two different sections. One would be for the 154 game schedule era and the other would be the 162 game schedule era as it is important to separate the two as they are comparing apples to oranges.

For the 154 game schedule era, it has to be the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. For the record, this is a team that has no connection whatsoever to the Indians. The record they finished with would be a 20-134 record. A record like that is going to be considered impossible to break. How did this happen? The owner of the Spiders also owned the St. Louis Browns thus creating a conflict of interest. To ensure that Cleveland would look bad, the best players were traded there making it seem like a minor league club. Attendance was so bad that at one point, they had to play on the road a lot more games. The record for most road losses is 101, which will never happen again. After that season, the Spiders would dissolve never to be seen again.

The Cleveland Spiders have a record that is unlikely to ever be matched by anybody.  It’s mind-boggling to see a team to fall down so fast and look like a complete joke.  When a team goes 20-134, it’s pretty embarrassing and because of that, the team was contracted.  It became the end of that team for good.  They also have a record of the most road losses with an unbreakable record of 101 as all ready established.  Today, everybody plays 81 home games and 81 road games.  It is impossible to have over 100 road games in a single season.

For the 162 game schedule era, the 1962 New York Mets finished with a 40-120 game record. Granted, two games were not played as it was during that time. In fairness, however, it should be noted that it was their first year in Major League Baseball so it wasn’t like it was someone established in the league for some time. The only team that rivaled it was the 2003 Detroit Tigers. They were beyond embarrassing and posted a 43-119 game record. They almost got the record tied but would be close in that respect.

Of course, there could be someone that could break the record, though not the one that anybody would want whatsoever but still broken nonetheless. It is an item that is subject to debate. It can be based off a record that happens during the season and to be fair, it does focus on one team but not the single worst franchise of all-time. Everything is a matter of opinion no matter what is said.

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