Baseball fans rightly celebrate the great teams throughout MLB history. The New York Yankees, for example, have won more than 10,600 games and have the highest winning percentage (.570) of all time. The San Francisco Giants are second at .536.

But what about the teams on the other end of the equation? What teams have the worst MLB win-loss record of all time? Or, to look at it another way, what teams should you support if you want to cheer for the underdog or see a club turn around their fortunes?

The following list looks at the teams that haven’t played much like the Yankees, Giants or Los Angeles Dodgers, who hold the No. 3 best winning percentage of all time at .530. These teams aren’t the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, but it may surprise you how much some of these clubs have lost over the years.

The 7 Clubs With the Worst MLB Win-Loss Record of All Time

To create this list, and give you the upper hand during the next debate among your friends on this topic, only the records of current teams were considered. But all-time records do include past incarnations of the team, so the Texas Rangers record includes games played by the Washington Senators (version 2.0).

We used winning percentage because of the varying number of games played by each club.

Miami Marlins

In 4,688 games, the Marlins have won only 46 percent of them (2,157). Somehow, they’ve also won two National League pennants and two World Series. But since winning that second World Series in 2003 over the Yankees, the Marlins have made the playoffs just once, getting swept in the 2020 National League Division Series by the Atlanta Braves. That 2020 season also marks the only year since 2008 that the Marlins finished over .500.

San Diego Padres

The Padres have won .464 percent of the team’s 8,520 games since 1969. The club is coming off a great 2022 that saw them win 89 games, beat both the New York Mets and the Dodgers in the playoffs, only to lose to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. Like many teams on this list, though, the Padres have gone through long periods of less-than-stellar baseball. For example, between 1969 and 1983, the club never made the playoffs and finished over .500 just twice (in 1982 and 1983). For another example, the Padres between 2007 and 2019 never made the playoffs and again finished over .500 just twice. The best teams have bad stretches, too, they just tend to not last as long.

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies have won .469 percent of their 4,496 games since 1993. Entering MLB the same year as the Marlins, the Rockies have won a single pennant (in 2007) and not even one World Series game (the Boston Red Sox swept them 4-0). The past dozen years have been a lowpoint, with the Rockies making the playoffs twice (in 2017 and 2018) but finishing last or next-to-last in nine of those seasons, including the past four.

Philadelphia Phillies

By far the oldest team on this list, the Phillies have a history of some greatness but also many years of dismal performance. That’s what happens when a team has played in three different centuries. The Phillies have played 21,209 games between 1883 and 2022, winning .473 percent of those games. The team has two world championships and eight pennants in those 140 seasons. The team’s most successful manager? Charlie Manuel, who compiled a .551 winning percentage (780-636) in nine seasons as Phillies coach between 2005 and 2013, winning the World Series in 2008.

Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles, who played as the original Milwaukee Brewers in 1901 and as the St. Louis Browns from 1902 to 1953, have tied the Phillies with a .473 winning percentage (8928-9952).  The Orioles became a powerhouse in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Since losing the 1997 ALCS to the Cleveland Guardians (then called the Indians), the Orioles have made the playoffs five teams, reaching the ALCS in 2014 and losing to the Kansas City Royals.

But really the Orioles appearance on this list is all about the Browns. One can feel nothing but sympathy for the early to mid-20th century fans of the Browns. The Browns finished over .500 in just 11 seasons between 1902 and 1953, winning one pennant in 1944 and compiling a .428 winning percentage over 52 seasons. That would rank them No. 1 on this list if we consider the Browns alone, significantly worse than the Marlins. No wonder many think of the Browns as perhaps the worst franchise in baseball history.

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners famously are the only team to never win a pennant. They also have a sub-.500 record, winning .474 of their games since joining MLB in 1977. To give an idea of the futility in recent years: the Mariners playoff appearance in 2022 was the team’s first since 2001. However, the Mariners have a .512 winning percentage under current manager Scott Servais, who has led the team since 2016.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers have won .475 percent of the team’s games. They do not benefit from the fact that the team played as the Washington Senators from 1961-1971, finishing above .500 just once (.531 in 1969) and finishing below a 40 percent win rate in five seasons. The Rangers weren’t much better for the next two decades, but the team has won two pennants (2010, 2011) and made the playoffs five times this century. The bad news: the seasons between 2017 and 2022 have been among the worst in recent franchise history.

The good times come and go for every team, but these seven teams have made more than their share of bad times. But as with everything in baseball, a streak can change at any time. Just ask a Miami Marlins fan.