The Most Unsuccessful Franchises in MLB History

There are eight teams remaining in Major League Baseball that began playing in the National League during the 19th century: The Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

Even though I’m not a basketball fan, I find myself rooting for the New Jersey Nets.

They’re on pace to break the record for worst NBA season this year, surpassing the 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers.

I want to keep the city of Philadelphia associated with failure.

Prior to the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series in 2008, the city had gone 25 years without a championship in any major sport. The Phillies are the only professional sports team to have lost 10,000 games: an unprecedented level of failure.

This got me thinking about the other older teams that have been around as long as the Phillies.

How are those teams doing?

The Braves will be the next team to lose 10,000 games.

They have a record of 9,854-9,883. That’s good for a .499 winning percentage, which is pretty decent. They actually have a shot at reaching 10,000 wins first. They need to win 96 games this season to get above .500 for their history.

The Giants were the first team to 10,000 wins, and the Dodgers, Cubs and Cardinals have joined them.

The Pirates and the Reds both have winning records. The Reds have 9,824 wins to 9,548 losses. The Pirates, even after being a joke for the last two decades, have a record of 9,753-9,579.

The Philadelphia Phillies are in another class altogether.

They hold a record of 9,038-10,167. That’s good for a .471 winning percentage, which is 26th among active franchises. Only the Padres, Rangers and expansion Rays have a worse winning percentage. If the Phillies went 96-66 every season it would take them 38 years to get over the historical .500 mark.

The Mets aren’t exactly in great shape either, although they’ve won as many championships as the Phillies in roughly a third of the time. They only have a .479 winning percentage and a 3,655-3,981 record. They have a losing record in all three stadiums they’ve played in, but hopefully they can fix that this year.

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