By means of Rustin Dodd, Zack Meisel and Andy McCullough
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers snapped a document 26-game shedding streak in December 1977, head teacher John McKay attempted to seem at the glorious facet.
“Three or four plane crashes and we’re in the playoffs,” he stated.
It used to be dried accountable him. The 12 months prior to, the Bucs had completed 0-14 of their inaugural season, stamping their position some of the worst groups within the historical past {of professional} sports activities.
The listing comprises the winless, the hopeless, and the talentless. One proprietor traded all of his excellent gamers to his alternative crew. This 12 months, the listing features a pristine applicant: The 2024 Chicago White Sox.
This 12 months, the South Siders eager the fashionable MLB document for probably the most losses in a season, topping the 1962 Pristine York Mets Friday evening with loss Negative. 121 — they usually’re now not achieved but. Right here’s the place the White Sox rank amongst a baker’s lot of the worst groups ever.
So tragic they had been forgettable
13. 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats, NBA, 7-59, .106
Sooner than the season, the Bobcats’ proprietor sized up his crew’s probabilities this fashion: “Who knows how good we can be? We’ve got some good pieces that can help us get to the playoffs. I’m not waiting until next year. I think we have a good quality basketball team this year.”
It used to be a unprecedented airball from in all probability the best basketball participant who ever lived. Michael Jordan gained six NBA Finals MVP awards. His Bobcats gained seven common season video games right through the 2011-12 season. Jordan flirted with immortality as a participant, and nearest as an proprietor he oversaw the in all probability maximum vincible NBA crew ever assembled.
Certain, that season used to be shortened to 66 video games on account of a lockout, however the Bobcats weren’t precisely trending neatly towards the tip. They dropped their ultimate 23 video games. Another way, 7-59 would possibly have change into 9-73 or 10-72 or, hell, 7-75.
Their seven wins had been one-third the whole of the next-worst crew. Their 87.0 issues consistent with duel are the bottom by means of any crew within the final two decades. They misplaced by means of double digits 38 instances and by means of no less than 20 issues on 22 events. Their .106 profitable share is the worst in NBA historical past. Their head teacher, Paul Silas, reportedly shoved ahead Tyrus Thomas “toward his locker” next a loss to the Boston Celtics as a result of Thomas have been “fraternizing” with the opposition. — ZM
12. 2011 Tulsa Injury, WNBA, 3-31, .088
When the WNBA’s Detroit Injury relocated to Tulsa for the 2010 season, mythical former Arkansas teacher Nolan Richardson took over as head teacher. In 2011, the crew put a pristine spin on “40 Minutes of Hell.”
Gutted by means of departures, the 2011 Injury started the season with a 1-10 document prior to Richardson resigned. It didn’t get well. Underneath pristine teacher Theresa Richards, the crew completed 3-31, surroundings a WNBA document for worst profitable share (.088). The crew completed final in issues consistent with duel, moment to final in issues allowed, and eager a document for consecutive losses (20) — next matched by means of the 2023 Indiana Fever. “What can I say?” Richards stated. “I’m the one in the seat.”
The Injury lasted simply 4 extra seasons in Tulsa prior to shifting to Dallas. — RD
Perhaps relegation is a good suggestion
Derby County’s Steve Howard next but any other loss, this one to Crystal Palace. (Ryan Pierse / Getty Photographs)
11. 2007-08 Derby County, English Premier League, 1-29-8, .026
In 2023-24, Sheffield United eager a Premier League document by means of permitting 104 objectives in 38 video games. And but on the subject of sheer awfulness, they may be able to’t contact the Derby County facet from 2007-08, which gained only one fit and accrued simply 11 issues, the worst for the reason that league started in 1992.
Supervisor Billy Davies used to be out next simply 14 fits. His alternative, Paul Jewell, didn’t enjoy a win. Neither did somebody right through the membership’s ultimate 32 fits — a document for top-flight soccer.
Derby County additionally eager the document for fewest objectives (20) and maximum defeats (29). They had been relegated next the season and feature by no means performed their as far back as the Premier League. As The Athletic’s Duncan Alexander wrote previous this 12 months, “ … no side will ever go as low as 11 points again, but Derby at least have had the sense to never return.” — RD
There’s deny earthly explanation why they must were this sinister
10. 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers, NBA, 9-73, .110
In his memoir, Tom Van Arsdale, a 6-5 taking pictures preserve who joined the Sixers in January 1973, when put next the crew to a “burnt, faded, broken-down used lemon with the sticker price so low it was almost offensive.”
The crew eager the NBA document for losses with 73.
Their head teacher used to be Roy Rubin, a Pristine Yorker who used to be leased from Lengthy Island College to interchange Jack Ramsay, and nearest lasted simply 51 video games, completing with a 4-47 document. In a 2023 tale for ESPN, heart John Oppose described Rubin as “a nice guy, but he really, really had a hard time coaching.”
Oppose next moved to Florida and operated an IHOP eating place.
Philadelphia have been in a normal shape of moderate since shedding Wilt Chamberlain next the 1967-68 season. Nevertheless it had by no means been this woeful. The Sixers continued a 14-game shedding streak that began in December, snapped the skid on Jan. 7, 1973, and nearest promptly misplaced any other 20 video games in a row.
The most efficient participant at the ‘72-73 Sixers was guard Fred Carter, who doubled as the best story. The upbeat Carter, who hung around Philly for four more seasons, was later credited with helping popularize the fist bump with his Sixers teammates. — RD
9. 2003 Detroit Tigers, MLB, 43-119, .265
This could have been the team the 2024 White Sox were chasing, if not for a miraculous recovery in the final week of the season. The Tigers started the season 1-17. By late September, they were 38-118 and on the verge of eclipsing those ’62 Mets as probably the most pitiful outfit to ever step footing on a contemporary big-league diamond.
It wasn’t as despite the fact that this got here out of left grassland. As crew architect Dave Dombrowski recalled to The Athletic final 12 months: “We didn’t expect to have a good season, by any means.” Because the membership reached triple digits within the loss column in past due August, despite the fact that, they began eyeing that Mets document and computing how they might steer cloudless of it.
With 20 video games difference, they knew they wanted six extra wins to steer clear of infamy. With six video games difference, they nonetheless wanted 5 extra wins. They surged to the end sequence, despite the fact that, and now, they’re simply a footnote within the annals of baseball ineptitude.
“It was almost like winning the World Series,” stated outfielder Craig Monroe about that frantic end to the season, which integrated Detroit’s largest comeback win in 38 years. “Doesn’t that sound crazy as hell?”
Why, sure, it does. — ZM
Growth? How about contraction in lieu?
8. 1992-93 Ottawa Senators, NHL, 10-70-4, .119
The headline writers on the Ottawa Citizen may now not include their glee when the Senators returned to the city next a 56-year absence: “Maybe Rome was built in a day,” the paper declared next the Sens defeated the Montreal Canadiens within the first duel of the season. “10,449 fans went wild, and it was magical,” a sub-hed learn.
They had been unsuitable about Rome — they usually had been unsuitable in regards to the pristine place of birth crew.
Ottawa didn’t win once more till its twenty third duel. The extra of the season went about the similar method. The crew gained simply as soon as — as soon as! — at the highway. And that took place within the 81st duel. The membership completed with 24 issues, 34 issues in the back of the Hartford Whalers within the Adams category. No longer perfect. — AM
7. 1974-75 Washington Capitals, NHL, 8-67-5, .100
When the Washington Capitals and Kansas Town Scouts joined the NHL for the 1974-75 season and proceeded to have two of the worst years in league historical past, a normal opinion shaped across the league: Growth used to be a mistake.
The Scouts had been tragic. The Capitals had been even worse, completing a surprising 8-67-5, together with an improbable 1-39 at the highway. The Capitals allowed a document 446 objectives. They misplaced 4 video games by means of no less than 10 objectives. The rationale used to be easy plethora: The NHL had tipped the scales in opposition to the pristine franchises, permitting the league’s incumbent groups to give protection to all in their excellent gamers.
“It’s not fair,” Capitals GM Milt Schmidt advised The Pristine York Instances in 1974. “We paid $6 million to join the league, and look how little the other teams have left for us.”
When the Capitals did win their one and most effective highway duel, they returned to the dressing room and paraded a trash can across the room love it used to be the Stanley Cup. — RD
6. 1976 Tampa Buccaneers, NFL, 0-14, .000
Head Teacher John McKay and his Bucs didn’t have a lot, however they did have the ones unique uniforms. (Focal point on Recreation / Getty Photographs)
Hamstrung by means of inequitable enlargement regulations, the Buccaneers had a roster of ageing veterans (a lot of whom would injure their hamstrings) and unproven younger gamers. They eager a pristine same old for pro incompetence.
The Bucs didn’t ranking till their 1/3 duel and didn’t document a landing till their fourth. They did top to position 17 gamers at the injured retain, an unofficial document. In the entire Bucs had been outscored 412- to-125, together with a 42-0 loss at Pittsburgh and a 34-0 loss on the Jets. And prior to the season opener, head teacher John McKay famously were given misplaced within the Astrodome tunnels.
The creamsicle uniforms had been great, however the crew airplane used to be now not. In an NFL Movies section, day Corridor of Famer Lee Roy Selmon — as a rookie, in all probability the crew’s lone glorious spot — relayed a tale about how the Bucs’ impaired airplane, which all the time looked as if it would fracture i’m sick, used to be hired from the landlord of a chainsaw corporate, whole with a chainsaw emblem at the facet: “Right away,” he stated, “I was a little worried.” — RD
5. 1962 Pristine York Mets, MLB, 40-120, .250
“Can’t anybody here play this game?” Mets supervisor Casey Stengel famously requested.
The solution used to be deny. (Neatly, Frank Thomas and Richie Ashburn had been reliable.)
The Mets completed 40-120, surroundings the fashionable past document for losses. Their exploits had been mythical: Their pitchers posted a crew ERA of five.04. They dedicated 210 mistakes. Just about 25 p.c in their wins got here right through a 9-3 spurt in Might. Nineteen gamers would by no means play games any other season within the majors. Possibly deny date symbolized the 1962 Mets just like the moment Marv Throneberry neglected first bottom in opposition to the Cubs future hitting a possible game-winning RBI triple with two outs. When the Cubs appealed to first and Throneberry used to be known as out, erasing the runs, the umpire had a message for an disenchanted Stengel. “Casey, I hate to tell you this,” he stated, “but he also missed second.” — RD
The 0-16 Membership
The 2017 Cleveland Browns discovered themselves having a look up at nice-looking a lot each and every crew ever. (Patrick Smith / Getty Photographs)
4. 2017 Cleveland Browns, NFL, 0-16, .000
Hue Jackson assured the Browns would now not repeat their 1-15 document from 2016. If that took place, he vowed, he would plunge into the uneven, cold waters of Pool Erie.
And he used to be proper! The Browns didn’t make any other 1-15 appearing in 2017. Negative, they went winless.
They ranked final within the league in issues consistent with duel and second-to-last in issues allowed consistent with duel. All season, they began a uncooked second-round select from Notre Dame, DeShone Kizer, who tossed two times as many interceptions as landing passes. Just one participant, the bac”kup operating again, recorded 400 or extra receiving yards.
When the season ended, fanatics arranged a parade to protest the franchise for its annual incompetence. They marched across the stadium in subzero temperatures, shouting: “What do we want? Watchable football! When do we want it? Now!” Some Browns fanatics sported Negative. 16 jerseys with the identify “Owen” at the again. Some Lions fanatics made the travel to commiserate with the pristine individuals of the winless membership.
Jackson in any case waded into Pool Erie please see June. “It’s going to be a cleansing of our organization,” he declared. He used to be fired 4 months next, departure Cleveland with a 3-31-1 document. — ZM
3. 2008 Detroit Lions, NFL, 0-16, .000
The query, looking back, is without doubt one of the funniest within the trendy historical past of American sports activities press meetings. The Lions had simply misplaced, 42-7, give up greater than 30 issues for the twelfth month in 15 video games. The crew’s defensive coordinator, Joe Barry, in order that took place to be the son-in-law of head teacher Rod Marinelli. As Marinelli said to the media, Detroit Information columnist Rob Parker may now not withstand.
“On a light note,” Parker ventured, “do you wish your daughter would have married a better defensive coordinator?”
Plethora month has handed that optimistically we will admit it: That’s a excellent zinger.
The Lions had been the primary NFL crew to ever advance winless in a 16-game season. The feat used to be matched 9 years next by means of the Cleveland Browns. However the 2017 Browns had been outscored by means of 176 issues. The 2008 Lions? Attempt a point-differential of negative-249.
Marinelli, understandably, didn’t hurry it neatly. Parker handled enough of blowback; he used to be suspended by means of the newspaper and in the end resigned. However he residue a fixture within the sports activities media terrain. Marinelli used to be by no means a head teacher once more. — AM
The Applicant
2. 2024 Chicago White Sox, MLB, document unknown
There’s an impaired adage, continuously attributed to Mark Twain, that claims humor equals tragedy plus month.
There’ll come a month going forward when the 2024 White Sox will likely be remembered in some way that almost all baseball groups don’t seem to be. Most of the groups in this listing have now not been assembled or competing for many years, however their exploits won’t ever die.
Two gamers colliding because the opposing announcer announces the date “full White Sox?” Andrew Benintendi likening the crew to a “dead horse?” A 21-game shedding streak that secured the AL document?
Some time, those will likely be colourful and humorous main points.
It simply takes month.
The White Sox had a 4-40 stretch. They misplaced 27 of 28 at house. They become the primary crew for the reason that 1916 A’s to fall 81 video games beneath .500.
You’ll advance on.
Historical past will pass judgement on the 2024 White Sox. However they aren’t the worst crew of all month. — RD
The Cleveland Spiders’ legacy lives on. (Quinn Harris / Getty Photographs)
The Worst Workforce of All While
1. 1899 Cleveland Spiders, MLB, 20-134, .130
Frank and Stanley Robison owned each the Cleveland Spiders and St. Louis Perfectos, and believing that St. Louis used to be the simpler guess to form cash in the future, they stripped the Cleveland roster of all its ability and stacked St. Louis in lieu. Sooner than the season, they swapped Cy Younger and alternative stars with gamers who didn’t in the end have prominent awards named next them. And so the Spiders become probably the most futile baseball crew of all month, a sad-sack bunch destined to fail prior to they ever took the grassland.
The Spiders continued a 24-game shedding streak. They misplaced 40 in their final 41 video games. They completed the season with a run differential of minus-723. They trailed first-place Brooklyn by means of 84 video games within the ultimate standings. Throughout the summer-long funeral procession, the Cleveland Unadorned Broker prevented regarding them because the Spiders and in lieu dubbed them the Cleveland Exiles or the Cleveland Forsakens.
Following a 4-2 Spiders win on Aug. 25 in opposition to the Pristine York Giants, the Unadorned Broker revealed: “An eighth wonder has come into the world and the Colossus of Rhodes, the Pyramids, the Statue of Zeus and the rest of the seven wonders had better look to their laurels. Cleveland has won another game. How it happened is beyond explanation. … They put up such a sharp, fast game that the 200 people who had gone out to League Park to get a little fresh air and take a quiet siesta were soon aroused to something very close to enthusiasm.” The Spiders wouldn’t win once more for three-and-a-half weeks.
Enthusiasts bailed on supporting the deliberately depleted roster, so the membership wound up touring for many of its video games. They launched into a 50-game travel in July and August, on which they went 6-44. Even the crew’s uniforms stunk, in keeping with the Unadorned Broker, which wrote: “Now they are obliged to wear the castoff uniforms of the St. Louis Browns, all of which are plenteously adorned with patches.”
The Spiders had been promptly booted from the Nationwide League and disbanded. Cleveland baseball used to be reborn in 1901 as a constitution member of the American League with a franchise that also stands nowadays because the Guardians. — ZM
(Representation by means of Meech Robinson / The Athletic; Pictures: Quinn Harris / Getty Photographs, Gregory Shamus / Getty Photographs, David T. Foster III / Charlotte Eyewitness / MCT)
