1950 Philadelphia Phillies
Who is the worst team of all time? What you determine to be the most important stat to count when answering the question is important. Do we just count one bad season? Then your choice is the Chicago White Sox. What about worst overall winning percentage? Marlins. Poor postseason play? Then you have the Twins or Rockies to select. But if you simply gauge who the worst team in history is based on total all time losses, then your team is the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies have over 11,000 losses in their history. Now, losses pile up for anyone who have existed since the 1800s, but if you check the stats on all the teams that began play before the formation of the American League, you'll see everyone with 10,000+ losses while the Phillies have an extra thousand to their name. As expected, with so much failure, it would coincide with an absolute lack of postseason play. Through the end of the 20th century, you would only need one hand to count the total World Series appearances of the Phillies, and when you remember that for a very long time there were only 8 teams in the NL, and none of them were the Yankees hogging the spotlight, you realize how bad a team has to be to not even accidently finish in 1st place in all those seasons.
1950 would be a huge change of pace. Going into that spring, Philly had one WS appearance in their history (a 1915 loss to Boston) and firmly in the shadow of the other Philadelphia team, the 5x champion Athletics (to this day the Athletics still have more titles in Philadelphia despite leaving after 1954). The Phillies were only one year removed from finally breaking a then-record streak of 16 straight losing seasons. "Fresh start" was an understatement with this squad, as the team was mostly comprised of young players looking to make their mark. The oldest regular in Eddie Sawyer's lineup was Eddie Waikus at the ancient age of just 30 years old.
The "Whiz Kids" as they were affectionally referred as, started off hot and gained a considerable lead in the NL standings. But, as always the case where lack of experience is concerned, the team hit a rough patch down the stretch and struggled mightily while the defending NL champion Brooklyn Dodgers clawed their way back into the conversation. In the final game of the season, the Whiz Kids held just a single game lead on the Dodgers, and it just so happened that the teams were playing one another in that final matchup. A loss here would be viewed as just another example of Philly failure, but the team rallied to beat the Dodgers in the final game and finish on top of the National League with a 91-63 record.
Waiting for the Whiz Kids in the World Series were (who else?) the New York Yankees. The Phillies would get swept out of that series, but they hardly rolled over. The first three games were all one-run affairs with Game 2 even going into extras. In the end though, the knowledge and deeper reserves of the Yankees prevailed, and the Phillies would slide back into mediocrity for the next 30 years.
