Which Major League Baseball franchise has suffered the most misery throughout its history and why?

Question

Please do not respond with any of these teams because I'll ignore you if you do:
Yankees (26 championships)
Cardinals (9 championships)
Athletics (9 championships)
Devil Rays (too new)
Diamondbacks (too new and have a championship anyway)
Marlins (young franchise and already has 2 championships)

Any other team is fair game. I personally think it's the Phillies because they're one of the 100+ year-old franchises, and they only have one championship, and have the most all-time losses of any franchise in professional sports. But there are several other strong contenders. What do you think?

tweety:

You gave a fine answer, I just wanted to point out that the Phillies championship was 1980, not 1983.

So far we have answers for the Cubs, Phillies, Expos, Rangers, Red Sox, Pirates, Padres, and Twins.

Any love for the Astros? White Sox? Indians?

Answer 1

It would have to be between the Cubs and the Phillies.

The Phillies have only been to 4 World Series, winning in 1983, but losing in 1915, 1950 and 1993...

The Cubs won back to back series in 1907 and 1908, but as everyone knows, haven't won a series since.

It's actually possible to have been a Cubs (or Phillies) fan for 80 years without seeing them win a championship... I know with the Red Sox it was 86 years, but the Red Sox have had some great teams over the years, and went to the 7th game of the World Series in 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986... they at least had their chances... and more often than not, they've led in game 7's... they blew 3-0 leads in both the 1975 and 1986 game sevens...
Besides, Boston had the Celtics, which more than made up for the Red Sox not winning it all. :-)

Overall, I think it's the Phillies, even though they've won a World Series during the lifetimes of a lot of their fans (they won their only series in 1983)... A Phillies fan who was 10 years old in 1900
and lived to be 92 never saw his/her team win the world series. That's a long time. And not only did they never win it, they never came close to winning it all, losing in 5 games in 1915 and getting swept in 1950.

Plus, the Phillies were just so bad as a team for so many decades, never contending for a pennant... at least the Cubs had years that they were contenders, and the Cubs also won pennants during the 19-teens, the 20s, the 30s and the 40s.



Note to the fan below about the Red Sox... Buckner's error occurred in game 6, not game 7... the Mets had already tied the score in the 10th inning of game 6 (on a wild pitch by Bob Stanley), so there's no guarantee that the Red Sox would have won game 6 without Buckner's error... get your facts straight. Had Buckner made the play, the game would have gone to the 11th inning. He didn't lose the series for Boston. How do people screw up the facts surrounding the most famous play in the last 20 World Series??

Answer 2

Game 3 of the 1982 World Series between the Brewers and the Cardinals at County Stadium in Milwaukee. The Brewers only appearance in the WS was 1982. It's legendary in Wisconsin. I've since seen the game on DVD and the atmosphere was phenomenal. I can only imagine the pride and thrill that a team and their fans have making it. The Brewers were in the AL East at the time with the Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Tigers, Indians and Blue Jays so it was no small feat to get there. They won the game 6-2. It would have been great to witness Cecil Cooper's 2 run homer and Molitor and Yount on the field. The Cardinals won the series in 7 games, it was a well fought series between the 2. But I'd choose the Brewers first home game to witness.

Answer 3

The Cubs have to be the hardest luck team. 98 years with no World Series win. 61 years without even getting to a World Series. The Washington Senators/Texas Rangers come in second. Their one World Series was in 1924, a mere 16 years after the Cubs.

Answer 4

The Montreal Expos. Their first few seasons after 1969 were just awful. When they got good in the mid to late 1970's, they consistently lost the NL East Division by a few games.

When they made the playoffs in 1981, they were 3 outs from the World Series until Rick f*cking Monday hit a HR off Steve Rogers. Then when they finally rebuilt the team and had a winner in 1994, the strike hit. Then they struggled again until MLB moved them to Washington.

Answer 5

Chicago Cubs no World Series since 1945 no World Championship since 1908...continuall losing seasons always seeming finding ways to loose when they have a chance ,,ie Leon Durham between the legs in 1984 ..collapse against the Giants in 1988 ...Gonzales dropping a ground ball after Bartman wasn't thinking and interfered with a foul ball in 2003

Answer 6

I'd have to say The Chicago Cubs probably top that list.
Thier fans have gone about 100 years without winning a
World Series.

The Phillies are another one, too. Just as you said.
Pittsburg has fallen on hard times.

Answer 7

Definitely the Cubbies!! There is no other team in MLB that has fans with such heart, and who have been waiting in disappointment for the last 98 years for a World Series win. Maybe next year...

Answer 8

Its the cubs, sure they have won a world series, except that no one alive actually saw it. you could argue the red sox but they just won a world series, and i am just going to throw the padres out there becuase they suck in the postseason (they've only been there 5 times) and they've lost 2 world series.

Answer 9

The Cubs they have had so many chances and its been so long them along with the Red Sox

Answer 10

the Texas Rangers. that franchise has been around for 34 years and it has only won 1 playoff game in 34 years. and now theyre not even close to makin the playoffs.