What Gives Lately With Bad Teams?

[Old Sweater]

I was surprised to find my Rockies weren’t at the very bottom of this infamous list.

Rk	Team	Span Started	Span Ended	W	Final Record	Rank	Postseason	G	W	L	WL%	ERA
1	BAL	1988-04-04	1988-05-20	6	54-107	7		40	6	34	.150	5.30
2	COL	2025-03-28	2025-05-11	7	8-42	5		40	7	33	.175	5.77
3	BOS	1932-04-11	1932-06-01	7	43-111	8		40	7	33	.175	5.66
4	PHI	1928-04-11	1928-06-02	7	43-109	8		40	7	33	.175	5.50
5	WSH	1904-04-14	1904-06-06	7	38-113	8		40	7	31	.184	4.15
6	PIT	1952-04-15	1952-05-29	8	42-112	8		40	8	32	.200	5.05
7	SLB	1910-04-14	1910-06-05	8	47-107	8		40	8	30	.211	0.00
8	PHI	1904-04-14	1904-06-11	8	52-100	8		40	8	31	.205	0.00

[thead] [/thead]

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 5/23/2025.

Then in 2024 we had the historically bad 41-121(.253) White Sox who are playing .300 ball this year with a 15-35 record.

Also in 2024 the Rockies were 61-101(.377) and 59-103(.364) for the 2023 season.

The worst 2023 team was the A’s with a historic bad 50-112(.309)

MLB has had historic bad teams for three years in a row in a sport that is noted for a rule of thumb competitive gap of 20% between the top teams and bottom teams.

What is responsible for this change? Payroll-analytics-bad ownership?

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I was surprised to find my Rockies weren’t at the very bottom of this infamous list.

Rk	Team	Span Started	Span Ended	W	Final Record	Rank	Postseason	G	W	L	WL%	ERA
1	BAL	1988-04-04	1988-05-20	6	54-107	7		40	6	34	.150	5.30
2	COL	2025-03-28	2025-05-11	7	8-42	5		40	7	33	.175	5.77
3	BOS	1932-04-11	1932-06-01	7	43-111	8		40	7	33	.175	5.66
4	PHI	1928-04-11	1928-06-02	7	43-109	8		40	7	33	.175	5.50
5	WSH	1904-04-14	1904-06-06	7	38-113	8		40	7	31	.184	4.15
6	PIT	1952-04-15	1952-05-29	8	42-112	8		40	8	32	.200	5.05
7	SLB	1910-04-14	1910-06-05	8	47-107	8		40	8	30	.211	0.00
8	PHI	1904-04-14	1904-06-11	8	52-100	8		40	8	31	.205	0.00

[thead] [/thead]


Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 5/23/2025.

Then in 2024 we had the historically bad 41-121(.253) White Sox who are playing .300 ball this year with a 15-35 record.

Also in 2024 the Rockies were 61-101(.377) and 59-103(.364) for the 2023 season.

The worst 2023 team was the A’s with a historic bad 50-112(.309)

MLB has had historic bad teams for three years in a row in a sport that is noted for a rule of thumb competitive gap of 20% between the top teams and bottom teams.

What is responsible for this change? Payroll-analytics-bad ownership?

its interesting, because baseball has the second best parity of the american sports. right behind Hockey...


But rebuilding in baseball is probably the hardest... especially when starting from scratch...

 

[Clayton]

its interesting, because baseball has the second best parity of the american sports. right behind Hockey...


But rebuilding in baseball is probably the hardest... especially when starting from scratch...

Probably best illustrated by the idea of there not being tanking in football and if a coach or coordinator tries it in football they generally get fired. You have to have long-term perspective when team building in baseball.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Probably best illustrated by the idea of there not being tanking in football and if a coach or coordinator tries it in football they generally get fired. You have to have long-term perspective when team building in baseball.

baseball is also the only sport where a team is not 'fixed" by the one right player....

 

[Clayton]

baseball is also the only sport where a team is not 'fixed" by the one right player....

In football you can have a team in place, no QB, and still go 4-13 or something. Jayden Daniels went to one of the oldest teams in the league IIRC. Most of the bad teams really aren't too broken. Just no leader.

Bill Simmons logic usually points to best NBA player wins its series. One right player is everything.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Probably best illustrated by the idea of there not being tanking in football and if a coach or coordinator tries it in football they generally get fired. You have to have long-term perspective when team building in baseball.

and made even harder by the new draft rules... did you know that Colorado is ineligible to draft better than the tenth overall in 2026??

 

[Clayton]

and made even harder by the new draft rules... did you know that Colorado is ineligible to draft better than the tenth overall in 2026??

Tbf, drafting tenth overall is a death sentence to an NFL or NBA rebuild but you should still be fine in MLB, right?

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Tbf, drafting tenth overall is a death sentence to an NFL or NBA rebuild but you should still be fine in MLB, right?

the baseball draft certainly means the less of all drafts... but in an ideal draft, you are getting at best the tenth best player... its harder for that player to be the big help than the other previous 9 players... and in a typical draft, in all leagues, the further you go, the less likely that player will be any good... probably a bigger problem in baseball since there are more first round failures than in any other sport...

 

[Old Sweater]

and made even harder by the new draft rules... did you know that Colorado is ineligible to draft better than the tenth overall in 2026??

I’ve never kept up with the draft since I just root for who the Rockies & Yankees(my childhood #1 till we got the Rockies) trot out there, but that stinks. Here in Colorado we also have the Coors Field Factor to deal where the Rockies hit 26% better at home and have a 17% higher ERA at home 1993-2024.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

I’ve never kept up with the draft since I just root for who the Rockies & Yankees(my childhood #1 till we got the Rockies) trot out there, but that stinks. Here in Colorado we also have the Coors Field Factor to deal where the Rockies hit 26% better at home and have a 17% higher ERA at home 1993-2024.

honestly, i think this is one of the biggest problems with the MLB and why they are losing fans compared to all the other major sports...

the MLB draft has no direct path to the pros... the draft is also ONLY highschool and college players.. all international players are not part of the draft...

its also why nobody cares about college baseball...

just a quick off topic rant...

 

[Old Sweater]

Here is the worst 25-teams, percentage wise, for a single season 1901-2024

Rk	Season	Team	Lg	WL%	GP	W	L
1	1916	PHA	AL	.235	154	36	117
2	1935	BSN	NL	.248	153	38	115
3	1962	NYM	NL	.250	161	40	120
4	1904	WSH	AL	.252	157	38	113
5	2024	CHW	AL	.253	162	41	121
6	1919	PHA	AL	.257	140	36	104
7	2003	DET	AL	.265	162	43	119
8	1952	PIT	NL	.273	155	42	112
9	1909	WSH	AL	.276	156	42	110
10	1942	PHI	NL	.278	151	42	109
11	1941	PHI	NL	.279	155	43	111
12	1939	SLB	AL	.279	156	43	111
13	1932	BOS	AL	.279	154	43	111
14	1928	PHI	NL	.283	152	43	109
15	1915	PHA	AL	.283	154	43	109
16	2018	BAL	AL	.290	162	47	115
17	1911	BSN	NL	.291	156	44	107
18	2019	DET	AL	.292	161	47	114
19	1909	BSN	NL	.294	155	45	108
20	1911	SLB	AL	.296	152	45	107
21	1939	PHI	NL	.298	152	45	106
22	1945	PHI	NL	.299	154	46	108
23	1937	SLB	AL	.299	156	46	108
24	1938	PHI	NL	.300	151	45	105
25	1926	BOS	AL	.301	154	46	107
Rk	Season	Team	Lg	WL%	GP	W	L

[thead] [/thead]


[thead] [/thead]

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 5/23/2025.

 

[TheGoodMan19]

honestly, i think this is one of the biggest problems with the MLB and why they are losing fans compared to all the other major sports...

the MLB draft has no direct path to the pros... the draft is also ONLY highschool and college players.. all international players are not part of the draft...

its also why nobody cares about college baseball...

just a quick off topic rant...

Always wondered if college baseball could be made a sport that the average baseball fan likes. NFL fans watch college football, NBA fans watch college basketball. Of ourse, it's not on TV except for ESPN+ and SEC Network. Why doesn't MLB pick up the games. The season starts in February. I'd rather see Vanderbilt-Tennessee than a replay of the 2008 Home Run Derby. Get a following and by April when the MLB season starts, they could spin it off to Fox or Peacock or Paramount. ESPN covers the Regionals and the CWS proper but I'd bet not for long. They seem committed to making the WNBA a thing. I like CBB, cool to have seen Paul Skenes, Atley Rutchman, Alex Bregman before they hit the big time

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Always wondered if college baseball could be made a sport that the average baseball fan likes. NFL fans watch college football, NBA fans watch college basketball. Of ourse, it's not on TV except for ESPN+ and SEC Network. Why doesn't MLB pick up the games. The season starts in February. I'd rather see Vanderbilt-Tennessee than a replay of the 2008 Home Run Derby. Get a following and by April when the MLB season starts, they could spin it off to Fox or Peacock or Paramount. ESPN covers the Regionals and the CWS proper but I'd bet not for long. They seem committed to making the WNBA a thing. I like CBB, cool to have seen Paul Skenes, Atley Rutchman, Alex Bregman before they hit the big time

Its definitely a miss on MLBs end... promoting college and the minors would be a good thing for the sport... especially college...

but again, i think the biggest problem is the player path to the majors... people like watching future studs play... baseball has brainwashed its fans into believing that all players need extended development to make the jump to the majors... and that those players cant develop IN the majors...

i really think that if the MLB developed players in the majors that people would be more interested

 

[TheGoodMan19]

Its definitely a miss on MLBs end... promoting college and the minors would be a good thing for the sport... especially college...

but again, i think the biggest problem is the player path to the majors... people like watching future studs play... baseball has brainwashed its fans into believing that all players need extended development to make the jump to the majors... and that those players cant develop IN the majors...

i really think that if the MLB developed players in the majors that people would be more interested

How can you develop players in the majors? The only way is playing time and that's the Minors.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

How can you develop players in the majors? The only way is playing time and that's the Minors.

I have posted this many times in the baseball board.

It would of course have to be a total restructure of baseball and how the minor leagues works. I think we have way too many minor league teams. Way too many minor league players. I think having more than 2 minor league teams is bad for baseball. And all players that are not on the 2 teams should be in a developmental camp where they can be redrafted or signed once they reach a certain age.

But all that again means that teams will bring up their top prospects faster. It would also force teams to draft based on readiness instead of only potential.

 

[Old Sweater]

Using StatHead I pulled up an NL & AL list for the worst OPS+ 1901-2025 and the Rockies have the 2nd worst ever with 70+

Using StatHead again I pulled up an AL & NL list for the 1901-2025 worst ever ERA+ and the 2025 Orioles & A’s are at 2nd worst ever with 72+

2025 is really defying odds for a 125-season span. Now with a hundred games left this season things could change for the good but 2025 at this point in time has some historically bad hitting and pitching teams.

 

[broncosmitty]

I have posted this many times in the baseball board.

It would of course have to be a total restructure of baseball and how the minor leagues works. I think we have way too many minor league teams. Way too many minor league players. I think having more than 2 minor league teams is bad for baseball. And all players that are not on the 2 teams should be in a developmental camp where they can be redrafted or signed once they reach a certain age.

But all that again means that teams will bring up their top prospects faster. It would also force teams to draft based on readiness instead of only potential.

Why do you want an inferior product?


There are levels for good reason. Almost nobody is ready at the rate you want debuts.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Why do you want an inferior product?


There are levels for good reason. Almost nobody is ready at the rate you want debuts.

Or maybe it would change how teams draft. Not all teams, but the importance of who may be professionally ready would now be a factor.

Not saying players should not go to the minors. Just saying there needs to be a speedier path to the majors. If more players sink or swim in the majors. The easier the rebuild will be. The more likely small market teams can compete with big market teams.

 

[msgkings322]

Or maybe it would change how teams draft. Not all teams, but the importance of who may be professionally ready would now be a factor.

Not saying players should not go to the minors. Just saying there needs to be a speedier path to the majors. If more players sink or swim in the majors. The easier the rebuild will be. The more likely small market teams can compete with big market teams.

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how players develop. How are people going to be "professionally ready" without minor league to get that way? They draft college kids all the time most of whom are not ready to play in the majors. Latin kids, what you want them to become ML ready on their islands before they get drafted? You're not making sense, it is how it is because it has had 125 years of the sport to figure out what is most efficient.

 

[broncosmitty]

Or maybe it would change how teams draft. Not all teams, but the importance of who may be professionally ready would now be a factor.

Not saying players should not go to the minors. Just saying there needs to be a speedier path to the majors. If more players sink or swim in the majors. The easier the rebuild will be. The more likely small market teams can compete with big market teams.

I don’t think it’s as common as some believe for players to be in the minors that can consistently be expected to help the team win.

If you can push the needle, you’ll get your chance soon enough.