The Top 10 Worst Franchises in MLB History

As I was researching all-time teams for certain expansion teams, it hit me that maybe there should be an article on the worst franchises in the Major Leagues.

It is not too say that these teams haven't had some good teams or some great years in which they have. One team owns the record for most wins in a season. Another would have won their division and could have made a run at the World Series, but the strike prevented that.

So, here's my list of the 10 worst MLB franchises.

No. 10 Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos: .477 Winning Percentage

It's hard to believe that the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos actually come in at No. 10 on the list. Considering the team has only one playoff appearance in their history and that came in 1981. The key is that their win-loss percentage is higher than nine other teams.

The Nationals franchise of course has not won a pennant or a World Series.

As mentioned earlier about the team that had the ability to win the division and were in line for a World Series appearance, but got it taken away well it was this franchise. Thanks to the strike in 1994 the Expos were not able to make the playoffs.

Even with that though the Nationals/Expos franchise has had two hall of fame players.

As a whole the franchise has these statistics for offense:
26,430 runs scored, 217,810 at-bats, 55,267 hits, 4982 home runs, and a .254 batting average.

The Nationals pitchers have given up 27,994 runs and have an ERA of 3.92.

Here's a look at the best of the Nationals:

Manager wise Jim Fanning had a record of 116-103 for a .530 winning percentage and the worst manager in franchise history was Karl Kuehl with a record of 43-85 for a winning percentage of .336

Gary Carter-C
Andres Galaragga-1B
Jose Vidro-2B
Orlando Cabrera-SS
Tim Wallach-3B
Tim Raines-LF
Andre Dawson-CF
Vladimir Guerrero-RF
Steve Rogers-SP
Jeff Reardon-CP

No. 9 Milwaukee Brewers: .475 Winning Percentage

The Milwaukee Brewers have an interesting history. The team started in the American League, but when expansion came they went to the National League to even out the divisions in both the American League and National League.

The Brewers have also had five hall of famers.

As a franchise the Brewers offensively have scored 28,598 runs, 219,142 at-bats, 56,709 hits, 5,846 home runs, and a batting average of .259.

Pitching wise the franchise has given up 29,743 runs and have an ERA of 4.21

The all-time team for the Brewers is this:

The best manager for the Brewers was Harvey Kuenn who had a record of 160-118 for a win-loss percentage of .576 and the worst manager for the Brewers has been Jerry Royster who had a record of 53-94 for a winning percentage of .361

B.J. Surhoff-C
Cecil Cooper-1B
Jim Gantner-2B
Jose Valentin-SS
Paul Molitor-3B
Geoff Jenkins-LF
Robin Yount-CF
Jeremy Burnitz-RF
Mike Caldwell-SP
Dan Plesac-CP

No. 8 Florida Marlins: .475 Winning Percentage

The Floridal Marlins have had an interesting run since joining the league in 1993. The team has won two pennants and two World Series in its young history.

Each time the Marlins have won the World Series the team has gone into rebuilding mode. Getting rid of big contracts and allowing their young prospects to get a chance to show what they can do.

It usually ends up as a disaster for the Marlins franchise as you can see they have one of the worst winning percentages since their inception.

For the Marlins brief history the team has scored 11,599 runs, has had 89,098 at-bats, 23,236 hits, 2,443 home runs, and a batting average of .261

The Marlins pitching staff has surrendered 12,397 runs and an ERA of 4.38
As of now the Marlins have no players in the hall of fame.

As for the best in franchise history here's a look:

Jack McKeon has the best winning percentage as manager of .538 in which he had a record of 241-207. The worst manager in franchise history has been Rene Lachemann who compiled a record of 221-285 for a winning percentage of .437

Charles Johnson-C
Derek Lee-1B
Dan Uggla-2B
Hanley Ramirez-SS
Mike Lowell-3B
LF-Jeff Conine
CF-Juan Pierre
RF-Gary Sheffield
SP-Kevin Brown
C-Robb Nen

No. 7 Baltimore Orioles: .475 Winning Percentage

The Baltimore Orioles as of late have had some lean years. Although, the Orioles have some prospects in the coming years that should help them start to create a winning atmosphere.

The team has been mired in mediocrity since Cal Ripken Jr retired. As of right now the Orioles are in a three way tie with the Brewers and Marlins as one of the worst winning percentages of the 30 MLB teams.

In the franchises history the team has won seven pennants and three World Series. Also, the Orioles have 26 players in the hall of fame.

As of now the franchise has scored 72,853 runs, 573,903 at-bats, 148,658 hits, 11,383 homeruns, and a batting average of .259.

Pitching wise the pitchers have given up 77,277 runs and have an ERA of 3.99

In terms of the best of the Orioles here's the lineup:

The best manager was hall of famer Earl Weaver who's record is 1480-1060 for a winning percentage of .583. As for the worst manager in Orioles history that belongs to Bobby Wallace who had a record of 57-134 for a .298 winning percentage.

Chris Hoiles-C
Eddy Murray-1B
Brian Roberts-2B
Cal Ripken Jr-SS
Brooks Robinson-3B
Ken Williams-LF
Brady Anderson-CF
Ken Singleton-RF
Harold Baines-DH
Jim Palmer-SP
Gregg Olson-CP

No. 6 Colorado Rockies: .472 Winning Percentage

The Colorado Rockies have had an interesting experience since the team came into the league in 1993. Coors Field the stadium where the Rockies is known for scoring plenty of runs due to the higher altitude.

Therefore, you will see when going through the stats that they have the highest ERA as a team, but even with that the Rockies offensively score a lot of runs as well.

The Rockies have one pennant and made it to one World Series, but lost to the Boston Red Sox.

As a franchise the team has scored 13,689 runs, 90,308 at-bats, 25,147 hits, 3,000 home runs, and a .278 batting average.

Pitching wise the franchise has given up 14,318 runs and have an ERA of 5.15

The all-time team for the Rockies would look like this:

Managerial wise the best manager for the Rockies has been Don Baylor who had a record of 440-469 record that means a winning percentage of .484 and the worst manager the Rockies have had was Jim Leyland, who had a record of 72-90 for a winning percentage of .444

Chris Ianetta-C
Todd Helton-1B
Eric Young-2B
Troy Tulowitzki-SS
Vinny Castilla-3B
Dante Bichette-LF
Juan Pierre-CF
Larry Walker-RF
Aaron Cook-SP
Brian Fuentes-CP

No. 5 Seattle Mariners: .471 Winning Percentage

The Seattle Mariners history is very interesting considering that the Mariners have the record for most wins in a season with 116 back in 2001, but even with that the Mariners as a franchise have rarely made it to the playoffs.

In fact the Mariners have only three other playoff appearances besides the year when the team won 116 games under the direction of Lou Piniella. As a whole the franchise has underachieved especially with the talent they've had come through in the '90s and '00s.

The Mariners themselves have two hall of famers.

As a whole the franchise has scored 23,596 runs, 176,525 at-bats, 46,724 hits, 5,019 home runs, and a .265 batting average.

Pitching wise the Mariners have given up 24,770 runs and have an ERA of 4.44 which is the third worse ERA of all 30 teams.

The all-time Mariner team would consist of:

Their best manager was Lou Piniella with a record of 840-711 which is a .542 winning percentage and the worst manager in Mariners history was Maury Wills who went 26-56 for a winning percentage of .317

Dan Wilson-C
Alvin Davis-1B
Jose Lopez-2B
Alex Rodriguez-SS
Jim Presley-3B
Raul Ibanez-LF
Ken Griffey Jr-CF
Ichiro Suzuki-RF
Edgar Martinez-DH
Randy Johnson-SP
Kazuhiro Sasaki-CP

No. 4 Philadelphia Phillies: .470 Winning Percentage

The most surprising team that made the list at least in my opinion are the Philadelphia Phillies. I knew that they had some rough years, but being one of the teams that had the worst winning percentage is beyond belief.

For the Phillies they have won six pennants and won two World Series and have 32 players in the hall of fame. The franchise itself is one of the oldest in baseball.

Over that time the franchise has scored 85,575 runs, have 658,860 at-bats, 172,469 hits, 11,529 homers, and a .262 batting average.

Pitching wise the team has given up 91,199 runs and have an ERA of 3.97.

Looking at the all-time team for the Phillies the team looks like this:

The best manager the Phillies have had in franchise history has been Arthur Irwin who had a record of 149-110 for a winning percentage of .575 and the worst manager was Hans Lobert who had a record of 42-111 for a winning percentage of .275.

Jack Clements-C
Don Hurst-1B
Bill Hallman-2B
Granny Hammer-SS
Mike Schmidt-3B
Del Ennis-LF
Cy Williams-CF
Chuck Klein-RF
Pete Alexander-SP
Jose Mesa-CP

No. 3 Texas Rangers: .469 Winning Percentage

The Texas Rangers have been around since 1961 they were originally the Washington Senator and then moved to Texas after the 1971 season.

The Ranger are looking to turn things around with Nolan Ryan as team president, but he has a lot of work to do to get the Rangers respectable and start raising the winning percentage up.

Ron Washington who was hired as manager has the Rangers playing good baseball. The Rangers/Senators have made it to the playoffs just three times and all of their appearances were in the '90s.

The rangers have had four hall of famers and have no pennants and no World Series appearances.

For the franchise itself the team has scored 34,457 runs, 263,940 at-bats, 68,380 hits, 7,319 home runs, and a .259 average.

Pitching wise the team has given up 28,414 runs and has an ERA of 4.28.

The all-time lineup for the Rangers looks like this:
Best manager goes to Billy Hunter who went 146-108 for a win-loss percentage of .575 and the worst manager for the Rangers has been Whitey Herzon who went 47-91 for a win-loss percentage of .341

Ivan Rodriguez-C
Rafael Palmeiro-1B
Ian Kinsler-2B
Michael Young-SS
Hank Blalock-3B
Frank Howard-LF
Don Lock-CF
Ruben Sierra-RF
Juan Gonzalez-DH
Kenny Rogers-SP
John Wetteland-CP

No. 2 San Diego Padres: .461 Winning Percentage

The San Diego Padres have the second worst winning percentage of any franchise. The team was founded in 1969 over that span the Padres have won two pennants and have been to the playoffs five times. Including twice to the World Series once in 1984 and the other in 1998.

As of now the Padres resemble a minor league team with the injuries and the lack of big time players. The only two players on the Padres that produce one is injured and has been subject to trade talks and that would be Jake Peavy and the other is Adrian Gonzalez who has no protection in the lineup.

It seems the Padres have been rebuilding their team and not progressing very well. Gonzalez is a cornerstone first basemen he's a player a team can build around, but the Padres may trade him instead and start from scratch.

Seven Padres have been inducted into the hall of fame.

For the franchise the Padres have scored a total of 25,970 runs, 218,661 at-bats, 55,116 hits, 4839 home runs, and a .252 batting average.

Pitching wise the team has given up 28,414 runs and has a 3.96 ERA.

As for the all-time team here is it what it looks like:

The best manager Jack McKeon with a record of 193-164 which is a win-loss percentage of .541 and the worst manager the Padres have had was Preston Gomez who went 180-316 for a .363 winning percentage.

Terry Kennedy-C
Adrian Gonzalez-1B
Mark Loretta-2B
Garry Templeton-SS
Phil Nevin-3B
Carmelo Martinez-LF
Steve Finley-CF
Tony Gwynn-RF
Jake Peavy-SP
Trevor Hoffman-CP

No. 1 Tampa Bay Rays: .423 Winning Percentage

The Tampa Bay Rays formerly known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been playing a lot better than they used to. Before 2008 began the Rays were pushovers and didn't offer much competition to big league teams.

Well after a new look and taking the devil out of the team name and hiring Joe Maddon the Rays are on their way of getting out of the cellar for worst winning percentage of all the teams.

Yet it will be a far climb for these young Rays to do that. Currently their winning percentage is at .423 and it will be long crawl for the Rays to get out of the basement.

They have the tools in place their young pitching and young hitters who will be around for awhile, but for now the Rays are currently the worst franchise in baseball in terms of their record.

For the franchise itself the team has one pennant which of course happened in 2008 and they made it all the way to the World Series losing to the Phillies who are number four on this list.

In terms of run scored as a franchise since the team came into the league in 1998 the team has scored 8,370 runs, 64,112 at-bats, 16,837 hits, 1,779 home runs, and a .263 batting average.

Pitching wise the Rays have given up 9,812 runs and own an ERA of 4.87

As for an all-time team here's what it looks like:

The best manager has been Maddon with a record of 272-303 for a .472 winning percentage and the worst manager was Hal McRae who had a record of 113-196 for a winning percentage of .366

Dioner Navarro-C
Aubrey Huff-1B
Jorge Cantu-2B
Jason Bartlett-SS
Evan Longoria-3B
Carl Crawford-LF
B.J. Upton-CF
Ben Grieve-RF
Jose Canseco-DH
James Shields-SP
Roberto Hernandez-CP