Worst of the Worst

Everyone knew the Chicago White Sox would be bad this season.  I don't think anybody was expecting this bad, though.  The White Sox have tied that modern-era baseball record of 120 losses set by those memorable 1962 expansion Mets, and there's still a week left in the season.  So, it's a virtual certainty that they'll not only break the 1962 Mets' record for losses, they'll become the first Major League team to win fewer than 40 games in a full, 162-game season.  (Heck, the Dodgers got to 40 in the 60-game 2020 season.)

Although, while it might not seem like it now, it's not all gloom and doom for the White Sox.  Sure, this season was memorable for the wrong reason, but there are plenty of recent examples of teams that turned it around from being historically bad to champions in not that long an amount of time.  The Tigers had the previous American League record for losses with 119 in 2003.  In 2006, they were in the World Series.  The Astros intentionally sucked for their last few years in the National League.  Since moving to the AL in 2015, they've been postseason regulars.  The Nationals turned two years of futility into Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, who became the cornerstones that the team built around.  Same thing with the Orioles and Adley Rutschmann.

It isn't just baseball, either.  The Lions and Browns, of course, had those historic 0-16 seasons.  They were both in the playoffs shortly thereafter.  And, let's not forget the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost the first 26 games in franchise history in 1976-77.  They made it to the NFC Championship Game in 1979.  And the Mets went from 120 losses in 1962 to World Series champions in 1969.

Expansion teams are supposed to be bad.  The 2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights are the exception.  Not the rule.  So, for that reason, teams like the 1962 Mets and 1976 Bucs won't be included in the following list.  Nor will the White Sox since we don't know what their future turnaround will look like.  Could they be like one of these 10 teams?

Houston Astros: During the stretch when the Astros were enduring three straight 100-loss seasons from 2011-13, Sports Illustrated anointed them as the 2017 World Series champions.  That prediction proved to be prophetic (although, we all know part of the reason why, but I digress).  The Astros' championship season of 2017 was the first of three consecutive 100-win campaigns.  They've made the ALCS every year since then.  They won another World Series in 2022.  Simply put, they've become one of the premier franchises in baseball.

Detroit Tigers: They may no longer hold the American League single-season record for losses, but let's not forget how bad the 2003 Tigers were.  They were eliminated from playoff contention in August!  So, it really is crazy to think that three years after such a low point, Detroit was in the World Series.  Sure, a rookie pitcher named Verlander and a Hall of Fame manager in Jim Leyland certainly helped, but it goes to show that a quick turnaround is very possible.

Washington Nationals: In 2008, their fourth season after moving to Washington, the Nationals won just 59 games.  They won 59 games again in 2009.  With the resulting No. 1 overall picks in the draft, they took Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.  And with those two as the nucleus of the team, later joined by Max Scherzer, the Nationals won 90 games and the NL East title four times in six years from 2012-17.  Of course, it wouldn't be until Harper was gone in 2019 that they finally won the World Series.

Detroit Lions: That 2008 season is obviously the one that went down in history as the first 0-16 campaign in the NFL.  The next year, they weren't much better, going 2-14.  In 2011, now with Matthew Stafford and Ndamukong Suh on the roster, they went 10-6 and made the playoffs for the first time since 1999.  We've seen it again with them recently.  They were 3-13-1 in 2021, then made the NFC Championship Game last season.

Cleveland Browns: Cleveland went a combined 1-31 in 2016-17, capped by the NFL's second 0-16 season in 2017.  They turned that into Myles Garrett and have really been in their first era of sustained success since the late 80s.  The Browns returned to the playoffs in 2020, three years after going 0-16, then made it again in 2023.

Philadelphia 76ers: There was a three-season stretch from 2013-14 to 2015-16 when the 76ers went a combined 47-199, capped by a 10-72 season in 2015-16 that was the second-worst in NBA history.  They lost 28 consecutive games during that span.  All of it was part of "The Process," where they were willing to endure some rough years for long-term success.  Two years after winning 10 games, they won 52, and they've made the playoffs every year since 2017-18.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Call it the LeBron Effect.  Cleveland was among the worst teams in the NBA for years, including a 17-65 campaign in 2002-03.  That year they just happened to end up with the No. 1 pick in the draft and took a local kid.  Funny how that happens, isn't it?  LeBron took them to four straight NBA Finals before leaving for Miami.  Not coincidentally, the Cavs immediately started to suck again.  They won 19, 21 and 24 games in the next three seasons.  Then LeBron came back and the Cavs-Warriors NBA Finals became an annual thing every year from 2015-18.  Then he left again and guess what happened?  Back-to-back seasons of 19 wins (although, the second was a COVID-shortened season).

Pittsburgh Penguins: While they didn't quite hit rock bottom like some of the other teams on this list, the Penguins did endure a rough stretch when the franchise was mired in bankruptcy proceedings and they finished last four years in a row.  Then the lockout changed everything.  They ended up with the No. 1 pick in the draft, which got them Sidney Crosby.  Pittsburgh made back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 and 2009, winning the Cup in '09, then added two more in 2016 and 2017.  The Penguins made the playoffs 16 consecutive times from 2006-07 to 2021-22.

Chicago Blackhawks: The Blackhawks are currently in the midst of a rough stretch, but it's nothing like the one they endured from 1997-98 to 2007-08.  They made the playoffs a grand total of once during that decade, losing that series in five games.  They followed that up by being ridiculously good from 2008-09 to 2016-17, including that stretch when they alternated years winning the Stanley Cup with the Kings.

New York Liberty:  Once Jim Dolan decided he didn't want to own the Liberty anymore, they were exiled to the Westchester County Center.  It began a stretch of really bad years that was capped by a 2-20 record during the WNBA's "Wubble" season in 2020 (with No. 1 overall pick Sabria Ionescu playing a grand total of three games that season).  Since then, they've become one of the absolute best teams in the WNBA, making the Finals last year and earning the No. 1 seed in this year's playoffs after going 32-8 during the regular season.