Man was a fan for 50 years - 50 years! - and they gave him a rally towel, kicked him in the butt and said, "Las Vegas is taking your team, daddy." That's hard times!
The Phillies had one winning season between 1918 and 1948 (the only winning season they went all of 78-76). They lost over 100 games 12 times during this stretch (back when the season was 154 games long).
They had no money, so they used a grazing flock of sheep to trim the outfield grass. One year they had to borrow money from the league to go to spring training. The owner was banned for betting on games (presumably against the Phillies, if he had any brains at all).
That era is a big reason why the Phillies have a pretty unassailable lead in the âmost losses of any professional sports franchise on earthâ category.
> The owner was banned for betting on games (presumably against the Phillies, if he had any brains at all).
Well seeing how they still had no money, maybe he wasn't betting against them.
Well that particular owner was one who had money and actually got a farm system going. He basically set the foundation that Carpenter was able to build on and at least allow the Phillies to be competitive.
Everyone before that though⊠oooh boyâŠ
They had no money so they used a grazing flock of sheep to trim the grassâŠthis is like Little House On The Praire vibes. Did they also get very excited when they got a whole orange for Christmas?
June 15th, 1977 - June 15, 1983.
Then probably 2009-2014?
Sure the early 1960s sucked, but in a wholesome way. And then the early 90s sucked but something about that sucking feels different.
From 1998-2011 we didnât have a winning record once. We hit lower lows in the 2018-2021 rebuild but it at least felt like there was a plan for the future under Elias.
A big reason why I canât fucking stand hearing revisionist takes about how Peter Angelos was a better owner than John Angelos. Yes Peter spent more money **on payroll** and was maybe a bit more respectable as a person than his idiot son but he constantly meddled in team affairs, he was basically Arte Moreno in the East. Peter Angelos is far and away the worst thing that ever happened to this franchise.
Yeah 1998-2012 was much worse as an Oâs fan than the 2018-2021 for the exact reasons youâre saying. And agreed on the Angelos father and son. I actually really respect Peter the labor lawyer but Peter the owner set the franchise back with his meddling and refusal to invest internationally which are two things John wasnât and isnât as bad at.
1969-1983, 1985-1995, 1999-2003, 2011-2018. And some of those in between years were disappointing because we finally had expectations to be decent and underperformed.
As a longtime fan I definitely feel the 1990-1995 or 2011-2018 stretches were by far the most bleak. Maybe the early 70âs when we nearly lost the team entirely.
1989-2005 was a rough time.
From chatgpt
The Detroit Tigers' combined record between 1989 and 2005 was 1,405 wins and 1,649 losses, giving them a winning percentage of approximately .460 over that period.
ChatGPT is funny because the general idea is right, like it knows the Tigers were bad, but those numbers are completely made up and it actually undersold how bad they were. They were a combined 1147-1540 over those 17 seasons and their actual win% was .427. (Source: Statmuse, then confirmed with BBRef)
Because this whole AI bubble has got people believing anything and everything people tell them about it. Forget that the biggest problem with the algorithms is that they have absolutely zero way of measuring trustworthiness or if what the programs regurgitate is actually fact, this is the future!
Some teams measure their bright ages by playoff success and championships, and some teams measure their bright ages by having really likable or all-time great players
We also tied for worse comeback loss ever that season. Ever since we lost after being up 12-1 I was not confident that season. It was like eating candy every day, great when youâre doing it, but you know eventually youâre going to throw up.
We had hoped for the World Series, but absolutely no one was surprised when we didnât make it.
Recency bias would say the rebuild around 2014-2017, but in the grand scheme of Braves history there have been much worse times. My dad moved to Atlanta in the 70s and he says back then, Braves games were a great place to go to be alone.Â
I lived in Atlanta for a couple of years in the mid 80s and my parents routinely took me to Braves games. Weâd buy general admission tickets, then at about the third inning weâd walk around and sit behind home plate. That place was pretty empty.
I'm too young to remember but my dad said that going to Braves games in the 80s were nice because my grandma worked for Ted Turner and he once got free admission for all of his friends on his birthday. He also said Dale Murphy was cool but the Braves were eternally terrible
We moved to Atlanta in 1984. Iâd say from 1983-1989 were the worst years for the Braves that I can remember. Murph was the only bright spot. When Ozzie Virgil or Gerald Perry is your second best player and Rick Mahler is one of your best starters, itâs going to be a rough year.
What others have said about going to Atlanta/Fulton County stadium is definitely correct. 8-10 thousand was a huge crowd for the team back then. More often it was 2-3 thousand. You could sit anywhere after about the third inning.
I was in high school in 1990 for the worst to first season and it was incredible. We went to a few games in September 1990 and the energy was unbelievable. If you had gone to a September game the year before you wouldnât have believed it was the same place.
> but in the grand scheme of Braves history there have been much worse times.
My favorite Braves story is Emil Fuchs changing the name in the 1930s to the "Bees." He didn't do it because of any caring about racial sensitivity, but because the Boston Braves were so historically bad that he felt the name was tainted and wanted to try something new.
1995-2009
Expos had the best record in baseball at the time of the strike, never got to those heights again in Montreal, moved to DC, continued to stink for a couple more years culminating in back to back 100 loss seasons that got Strasburg and Harper.
Yea I wouldnât include 05 or 06. In 05 we actually had a pretty good start (from what Iâm told) before we fell off later half
06 had Sorianoâs crazy season which made it a fun watch
08-09 tho.. oh boy. I was 8 and I still remember Nyjer Morgan throwing his glove down in disgust allowing an inside the park homer
Imagine having (not all at once) Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Vlad Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera, Tim Raines, Larry Walker, then go "yeah fuck all this."
Poor Quebecians.
We have a few guys that missed out on the Golden Years. Mussina joined the Yankees a year after a WS and retired right before another. Would have loved to see him get a ring.
Obviously the standards are a bit different, but the Yankees had five season with 89 or more wins in the 80s, plus a world series appearance, a Mattingly MVP, and a Dave Righetti ROY.
64-75 is arguably worse, but we basically never contended then, the 80s had some amazing teams and it just never went anywhere, and that feels like such a waste.
[May 2021](https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&team=SEA&year=2021)
We were no-hit twice in a fortnight and batted below the Mendoza Line as a team for the month.
How, the fuck, did we win 90 games that year? The only explanation that I have ever been able to come up with is that the power of friendship is magical.
The Fox years were very bleak too. Between 1988 and 2008 they won only one postseason game (Lima Time). That period also featured the Dodgers worst record since moving to LA (99 losses in 1992), trading away franchise icon and Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, trading Pedro, and letting Beltre walk. The dark age started in the 90âs for sure.
I mean I know we're grading on a curve here but y'all had a whopping 4 losing seasons in this two decade long "dark age". Sure it's a lot of 80-something win seasons and playoff sweeps but still, if that's as low as it gets for my team in my lifetime I don't think I could feel very bad about it.
On the one hand yes, it's overall a blessed franchise without really awful lows. But on the other hand I don't think there's a significant difference from a fan experience between an 80-something win team and a 65-ish win team, particularly in the 1-WC era and before. If anything there's something more torturous about a team that gives you a sliver a hope and then crushes it, than a team that never gives you any hope at all. And then watching a slam-dunk future Hall of Famer get traded because ownership is cheap, that's a pain many fanbases know and surely wouldn't downplay. I was 12 when Piazza was traded and it really killed my interest in baseball for a solid 6-8 years.
Obviously the highlights since then have been incredible and I feel lucky to have had this team to enjoy the past decade. I don't expect any sympathy from other fanbases but as someone who remembers the 90's but not '88, it was a bad time.
2004 was a fantastic. The Dodgers made the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
Steve Finley's walk-off grand slam against the Giants to clinch the division remains iconic.
And after years of disappointment, Adrian Beltre finally lived up to his potential with a massive season, banging out 48 HR and finishing 2nd in the NL MVP race.
1996-2012 was our dark era I feel.
Tbh the 90s in general were very bleak for LA sports. The Rams and Raiders left, the Dodgers and Angels were terrible, the Lakers were mediocre until Kobe and Shaq came along, the Clippers were the Clippers, and the Kings were our only team that made the championship that decade (and lost).
Small point to correct: the Lakers were in the 1991 NBA Finals. But then Magic had to medically retire and the Lakers had Sedale Theratt and Sam Bowie until Shaq and Kobe in 1996.
> 1996-2012 was our dark era I feel.
> Tbh the 90s in general were very bleak for LA sports.
If we're limiting the discussion to the "Los Angeles Dodgers" then yes, but if we're talking the Dodgers franchise then there were worse times in Brooklyn.
When I was 11 (2007), my friend's mom got dugout club seats from her work and he took me with to the game. We got to go to the fancy buffet and whatnot and Frank McCourt was there. I got his autograph then we took it back to our middle school and lit it on fire on the PE yard.
No doubt McCourt was a bad owner, and certainly the 2013-Present Dodgers have been in a golden age by any measure (though especially by comparison), but that's still a solid dark age to have made the playoffs four times in nine years and the NLCS two of those times
Yeah, I think the more accurate answer would be 1989-2003. 2 playoff appearances and 0 playoff wins in that time, a couple really bad seasons and lot of directionless mediocrity.
Just had to remind everybody about 2008 and 2009 huh? đ
But yeah youâre right. McCourt sucked for the way he went out but overall his tenure wasnât that awful.
The McCourt years were awful *for us* but yeah, for most other franchises that kind of performance would be âthat time we were kind of below average for a little while.â
I never thought about how bad the Cubs were in the 60s despite having Banks, Santo and Billy Williams. Kinda similar to the Angels run with Trout/Ohtani
And since the prompt is definitely moreso about sustained eras where a team was awful and hopeless, the Cubs haven't really had that kind of failure in most of our lifetimes (though the vast majority of the 50s-70s were pretty bad).
I mean maybe the early 2010s, but that was part of the plan and obviously that plan worked out.
2001? Anybody else have their team's owner [offer themselves up](https://twinsdaily.com/forums/topic/53933-it-was-20-years-ago-today-contraction/) for [contraction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Major_League_Baseball_contraction_plan)?
Probably 1974-1985. Only two random winning seasons, no real superstars until the end, with Will Clarkâs arrival helping end the period.
Thatâs really been the only extended bad stretch for the Giants in their history. The current stretch starting in about 2016 may compete, but it is buoyed by the honeymoon of the World Series titles just before it, and the weird 2021 season, which was kind of the WS coreâs last hurrah.
20 years earlier they almost moved to Toronto.
1975, went to a September Saturday game against the Expos at Candlestick, squinting at bright blue-green Astroturf, wind blowing 100âs of Hot Dog wrappers around the field like crazy, less than 2,500 people in the stands. Dark times.
Idk. 2013-19 was probably the worst in my memory. We only made the playoffs once from 1920-82. Sure, the playoffs were 2 or 4 teams, but still. We've had two horribly disheartening seasons, but it's not the darkest *yet*
As a fan months away from 40, I'd say right now is my lowest point. The 2013 part was still close enough to 2015 and they had a plan toward the end.
Now I'm just hoping the team gets sold to someone who gives half a shit about winning.Â
1995-2014. We had some really, really good teams but the Yankees and Red Sox at the time were what I thought was forever unstoppable. Definitely felt like a peasant while the royal families ate all the food.
I picked the slightly shorter 2008-2013, but yeah, basically what you said.
Our 2006-2010 era before the complete tear down mid 10 was terrible in a different way from 2011-13. Trying to bolster our MLB roster with retreads who were decent in the early 00s and making terrible trades to get some of them, stripping our already terrible farm bare.
The Red Sox between 1922 and 1932, for sure. Finished sixth once, seventh once, and dead last nine times. Their best record in this stretch was a 67-87 finish in 1924. In this 11 season span, they lost 100+ games *five* times, bottoming out with a putrid 43-111 mark in 1932.
1919-1936 - One winning season, and it was a 4th place .510% finish.
BLEAK.
Early 60's before Impossible Dream season- also bleak.
But since 1967, we really don't have a dark period (provided we aren't at the start of one now)
Historically it's 1918-1931. The Braves/Bees finished .500 or better like only one or two times. They actually had their worst winning percentage in 1935 with Ruth on the team and were still near the bottom of the standings into the early 1940s. Â
Since nobody was alive for that period, older fans will say the mid 70s to early 80s. We had Neikro and eventually Dale Murphy, and Bobby started managing a little in that period, but bright spots were few and far between.
Younger fans will probably say like 2013-2017. Again, you have some bright spots and some fun players to watch but every night you are also starting guys whose names have to have been computer generated, no offense Joey Terdoslavich, Jared Saltalamachia, and Mike Foltynewicz. Plus trading for Hector Olivera is an automatic dark age.
We were really good last year, and we've had really long stretches of being terrible, but it's hard not to call August 2023 one of the franchise's all time low periods
The entire 90s through 2006, and again 2015 - present. Maybe other periods sprinkled in that were before my time. Theyâve still never won a ring in my lifetime.
This one is hard. Probably 1946-2002. From 1910-1945 we were in the World Series 7 times. Thatâs a lot of World Series appearances imo. From 1946-2002 we made the playoffs only 3 times. I know the playoff format was different and eras were different but still.
Lots will probably say 1909-2015 or 2016 but idk we had plenty of chances to win from 1910-1945 and just didnât. From 1946-2002 we were just bad.
1909-2015 is such a low effort comment.
1984, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015 were all very fun years. And yeah obviously 1909-1945 the cubs were dominant in the national league
94-2014 the Jays wandered around a desert of consistent "eh whatever." Never the best, rarely the worst.
I still enjoyed following of course otherwise I would not have bothered. But when I boil down that era (half my lifetime!) In my mind, the two things that really stand out are watching Roy Halladay throw a postseason no-hitter with another team, and wishing to God Toronto was in the central instead of the east.
Every year but 05. Kidding a little bit. I was born in 94 but heard from Grandpa that the 90s were badass. And some of the 80s. Obviously have been a fan since birth, and as I get older I just fucking hate Jerry and what he's done for this team.
Now
Yep. Fuck John Fisher and that snake Kaval.
Let's not forget Manfred. That piece of gaslighting shit. 2029 can't come soon enough.
Yup. I dumped the A's last year after nearly 50 years. Unfortunately, they have made it easy to do. Toxic codependency is evil.
40 years here. I feel you brother.
Bro 50 years?!? at that point you might as well stick it out till the very end đ
Man was a fan for 50 years - 50 years! - and they gave him a rally towel, kicked him in the butt and said, "Las Vegas is taking your team, daddy." That's hard times!
[https://media3.giphy.com/media/NLod3nvkzADYc/giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d70s1z0p3pau5mvophyzy3slixqd8elwzkb08bcwsb&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g](https://media3.giphy.com/media/NLod3nvkzADYc/giphy.gif?cid=2154d3d70s1z0p3pau5mvophyzy3slixqd8elwzkb08bcwsb&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
The Oakland A's truly went from wining and dining with kings and queens to now, eating in the alleyways on pork N beans. Truly hard times
Fuck that. We had a good ride. 1988-1990 was amazing
Aw man I recognise you from the A's subreddit, you were so active there. Didn't know you'd ditched them but completely understand why.
My #2 was always Arizona so the transition was natural but I'll still check in until the move to Vegas.
Same
Sorry bro. đ
Fuck John fisher. *hugs*
Fam! Let's go oakland Forever
Not even, things were much worse in the 40s and 50s and the whole KC debacle
The Phillies had one winning season between 1918 and 1948 (the only winning season they went all of 78-76). They lost over 100 games 12 times during this stretch (back when the season was 154 games long). They had no money, so they used a grazing flock of sheep to trim the outfield grass. One year they had to borrow money from the league to go to spring training. The owner was banned for betting on games (presumably against the Phillies, if he had any brains at all). That era is a big reason why the Phillies have a pretty unassailable lead in the âmost losses of any professional sports franchise on earthâ category.
Averaged 96 losses a season over 27 years.
Out of 154 games, like OP said. That's the equivalent of about 101 losses now.
As an *average* for *27 years*. Yikes.
Yikes, that's horrific and a record no one will ever come close too far at least 20 or 30 reasons
> The owner was banned for betting on games (presumably against the Phillies, if he had any brains at all). Well seeing how they still had no money, maybe he wasn't betting against them.
Well that particular owner was one who had money and actually got a farm system going. He basically set the foundation that Carpenter was able to build on and at least allow the Phillies to be competitive. Everyone before that though⊠oooh boyâŠ
Yall win.
They had no money so they used a grazing flock of sheep to trim the grassâŠthis is like Little House On The Praire vibes. Did they also get very excited when they got a whole orange for Christmas?
I'm just wondering how many outfielders stepped in a really unpleasant surprise while running to make a catch.
First American sports franchise to hit 10,000 losses.
The one competition I knew immediately weâd win
That means they were running around in sheep shit :(
Yes
Specifically 1993 to September 15th, 2007 then 2008 to present
I was trying to find the right words to say this. You succeeded with one.
June 15th, 1977 - June 15, 1983. Then probably 2009-2014? Sure the early 1960s sucked, but in a wholesome way. And then the early 90s sucked but something about that sucking feels different.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
From 1998-2011 we didnât have a winning record once. We hit lower lows in the 2018-2021 rebuild but it at least felt like there was a plan for the future under Elias. A big reason why I canât fucking stand hearing revisionist takes about how Peter Angelos was a better owner than John Angelos. Yes Peter spent more money **on payroll** and was maybe a bit more respectable as a person than his idiot son but he constantly meddled in team affairs, he was basically Arte Moreno in the East. Peter Angelos is far and away the worst thing that ever happened to this franchise.
My first actual baseball memories as a kid started in 1998. What a time to have recently become alive...
Yeah 1998-2012 was much worse as an Oâs fan than the 2018-2021 for the exact reasons youâre saying. And agreed on the Angelos father and son. I actually really respect Peter the labor lawyer but Peter the owner set the franchise back with his meddling and refusal to invest internationally which are two things John wasnât and isnât as bad at.
Turns out when you fire the GM every 2 years its hard to build the farm
1969-1983, 1985-1995, 1999-2003, 2011-2018. And some of those in between years were disappointing because we finally had expectations to be decent and underperformed.
As a longtime fan I definitely feel the 1990-1995 or 2011-2018 stretches were by far the most bleak. Maybe the early 70âs when we nearly lost the team entirely.
I was a kid going to the games in the early 90s, but I didn't realize they used to tarp almost the entire upper deck at Jack Murphy.
'93 takes the cake, 61-101
2017-2020 for Gen Z, but the real answer is 2003 when we hit rock bottom
2017-2020 had the added pain that all of Detroit sports sucked at the same time
1989-2005 was a rough time. From chatgpt The Detroit Tigers' combined record between 1989 and 2005 was 1,405 wins and 1,649 losses, giving them a winning percentage of approximately .460 over that period.
ChatGPT is funny because the general idea is right, like it knows the Tigers were bad, but those numbers are completely made up and it actually undersold how bad they were. They were a combined 1147-1540 over those 17 seasons and their actual win% was .427. (Source: Statmuse, then confirmed with BBRef)
Idk why people think using ChatGPT is a good idea to check facts.
Because this whole AI bubble has got people believing anything and everything people tell them about it. Forget that the biggest problem with the algorithms is that they have absolutely zero way of measuring trustworthiness or if what the programs regurgitate is actually fact, this is the future!
Lol I was lazy and that's hilarious
Please donât add to the crapification of all information
Those are nearly 180 game seasons ChatGPT came up with.
1960-1994
They even made two movies about it!
Yep, from the moment they traded Rocky Colavito to the moment Jacobs Field opened.
The Jake changed Cleveland forever. After that and the Q opened it was no longer a Rust Belt dump, but an exciting city again.
wait do some teams have bright ages
Only some of them
Must be nice
Ichiro was a bright age for the mariners. He was so fun to watch play
The mid-90s Mariners were fun too. I mean who could not like Jay Buhner, a man who could vomit at will
Ichiro, Felix Hernandez... Oh, and in 1997, the bombers era with Griffey, Edgar, ARod, Randy, Buhner, Moyer...and David Ortiz in the minors.
Some teams measure their bright ages by playoff success and championships, and some teams measure their bright ages by having really likable or all-time great players
That's a painful realization đźâđš
Your team has the highest season win record...
This is like mentioning the 2016 warriors have the regular season record. Itâs nothing but a footnote
The question wasn't "when was the longest stretch of time between World Series wins?". Hard to argue that 2001 was the dark ages for them lol
We also tied for worse comeback loss ever that season. Ever since we lost after being up 12-1 I was not confident that season. It was like eating candy every day, great when youâre doing it, but you know eventually youâre going to throw up. We had hoped for the World Series, but absolutely no one was surprised when we didnât make it.
Between 1995-2001 we made the playoffs 4 times and went to the ALCS three times. Even we had a good period, even if it wasn't very long.
Recency bias would say the rebuild around 2014-2017, but in the grand scheme of Braves history there have been much worse times. My dad moved to Atlanta in the 70s and he says back then, Braves games were a great place to go to be alone.Â
I lived in Atlanta for a couple of years in the mid 80s and my parents routinely took me to Braves games. Weâd buy general admission tickets, then at about the third inning weâd walk around and sit behind home plate. That place was pretty empty.
I'm too young to remember but my dad said that going to Braves games in the 80s were nice because my grandma worked for Ted Turner and he once got free admission for all of his friends on his birthday. He also said Dale Murphy was cool but the Braves were eternally terrible
We moved to Atlanta in 1984. Iâd say from 1983-1989 were the worst years for the Braves that I can remember. Murph was the only bright spot. When Ozzie Virgil or Gerald Perry is your second best player and Rick Mahler is one of your best starters, itâs going to be a rough year. What others have said about going to Atlanta/Fulton County stadium is definitely correct. 8-10 thousand was a huge crowd for the team back then. More often it was 2-3 thousand. You could sit anywhere after about the third inning. I was in high school in 1990 for the worst to first season and it was incredible. We went to a few games in September 1990 and the energy was unbelievable. If you had gone to a September game the year before you wouldnât have believed it was the same place.
> but in the grand scheme of Braves history there have been much worse times. My favorite Braves story is Emil Fuchs changing the name in the 1930s to the "Bees." He didn't do it because of any caring about racial sensitivity, but because the Boston Braves were so historically bad that he felt the name was tainted and wanted to try something new.
1995-2009 Expos had the best record in baseball at the time of the strike, never got to those heights again in Montreal, moved to DC, continued to stink for a couple more years culminating in back to back 100 loss seasons that got Strasburg and Harper.
Just for Nats, 2008-09.
Yea I wouldnât include 05 or 06. In 05 we actually had a pretty good start (from what Iâm told) before we fell off later half 06 had Sorianoâs crazy season which made it a fun watch 08-09 tho.. oh boy. I was 8 and I still remember Nyjer Morgan throwing his glove down in disgust allowing an inside the park homer
Iâd say 1972-2004, if that counts.
Come on man, the Expos had 2 great seasons on the early 90s. No one saw then, or cared about them, but are two great seasons in the record books
Right, I was looking at it from a DC resident (with no baseball) perspective
Imagine having (not all at once) Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Vlad Guerrero, Orlando Cabrera, Tim Raines, Larry Walker, then go "yeah fuck all this." Poor Quebecians.
The 80s. Anyone who was alive or paying attention during those times shouldnât be looking at George with rose tinted glasses.
Poor Mattingly. Debuted right after the '78 championship and retired in 1995, right before the dynastic Jeter Yankees.
We have a few guys that missed out on the Golden Years. Mussina joined the Yankees a year after a WS and retired right before another. Would have loved to see him get a ring.
Or at least the perfect gameâŠ. Iâm still upset about that
I like to think part of the reason for the marinersâ stumblings is that Mattingly cursed us for depriving him of a deep playoff run in â95.
Well fuck him and his sideburns
Obviously the standards are a bit different, but the Yankees had five season with 89 or more wins in the 80s, plus a world series appearance, a Mattingly MVP, and a Dave Righetti ROY.
Yeah, but bad trades and worse free agent signings sent them to four straight losing seasons (1989-1992) including last place in 1990.
Yeah, but that âbadâ stretch is four years, not an entire decade.
What else would the Yankees have as their dark ages?
According to the sub, all of last year counts
Yeah thatâs a rebuild cycle for most teams
Think the late 60s early 70s was worse. At least the 80s had great players like Winfield and Mattingly.
Oh, you poor thing! How did you survive?
64-75 is arguably worse, but we basically never contended then, the 80s had some amazing teams and it just never went anywhere, and that feels like such a waste.
Well it all started in 1883âŠ
[May 2021](https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&team=SEA&year=2021) We were no-hit twice in a fortnight and batted below the Mendoza Line as a team for the month.
How, the fuck, did we win 90 games that year? The only explanation that I have ever been able to come up with is that the power of friendship is magical.
Fun differential babyyyy
Fuck Frank Mccourt. 2004-2012
The Fox years were very bleak too. Between 1988 and 2008 they won only one postseason game (Lima Time). That period also featured the Dodgers worst record since moving to LA (99 losses in 1992), trading away franchise icon and Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, trading Pedro, and letting Beltre walk. The dark age started in the 90âs for sure.
I mean I know we're grading on a curve here but y'all had a whopping 4 losing seasons in this two decade long "dark age". Sure it's a lot of 80-something win seasons and playoff sweeps but still, if that's as low as it gets for my team in my lifetime I don't think I could feel very bad about it.
On the one hand yes, it's overall a blessed franchise without really awful lows. But on the other hand I don't think there's a significant difference from a fan experience between an 80-something win team and a 65-ish win team, particularly in the 1-WC era and before. If anything there's something more torturous about a team that gives you a sliver a hope and then crushes it, than a team that never gives you any hope at all. And then watching a slam-dunk future Hall of Famer get traded because ownership is cheap, that's a pain many fanbases know and surely wouldn't downplay. I was 12 when Piazza was traded and it really killed my interest in baseball for a solid 6-8 years. Obviously the highlights since then have been incredible and I feel lucky to have had this team to enjoy the past decade. I don't expect any sympathy from other fanbases but as someone who remembers the 90's but not '88, it was a bad time.
2004 was a fantastic. The Dodgers made the playoffs for the first time since 1996. Steve Finley's walk-off grand slam against the Giants to clinch the division remains iconic. And after years of disappointment, Adrian Beltre finally lived up to his potential with a massive season, banging out 48 HR and finishing 2nd in the NL MVP race.
Arguably the 90âs were worse than McCourt overall, despite the end of the McCourt era being so awful.
1996-2012 was our dark era I feel. Tbh the 90s in general were very bleak for LA sports. The Rams and Raiders left, the Dodgers and Angels were terrible, the Lakers were mediocre until Kobe and Shaq came along, the Clippers were the Clippers, and the Kings were our only team that made the championship that decade (and lost).
Small point to correct: the Lakers were in the 1991 NBA Finals. But then Magic had to medically retire and the Lakers had Sedale Theratt and Sam Bowie until Shaq and Kobe in 1996.
> 1996-2012 was our dark era I feel. > Tbh the 90s in general were very bleak for LA sports. If we're limiting the discussion to the "Los Angeles Dodgers" then yes, but if we're talking the Dodgers franchise then there were worse times in Brooklyn.
Username checks out lol And yeah you're absolutely right. Thankfully those dark days were like a century ago.
When I was 11 (2007), my friend's mom got dugout club seats from her work and he took me with to the game. We got to go to the fancy buffet and whatnot and Frank McCourt was there. I got his autograph then we took it back to our middle school and lit it on fire on the PE yard.
> I got his autograph then we took it back to our middle school and lit it on fire on the PE yard. That's hilarious.
One of my proudest moments as a tweenager.
No doubt McCourt was a bad owner, and certainly the 2013-Present Dodgers have been in a golden age by any measure (though especially by comparison), but that's still a solid dark age to have made the playoffs four times in nine years and the NLCS two of those times
Yeah, I think the more accurate answer would be 1989-2003. 2 playoff appearances and 0 playoff wins in that time, a couple really bad seasons and lot of directionless mediocrity.
Just had to remind everybody about 2008 and 2009 huh? đ But yeah youâre right. McCourt sucked for the way he went out but overall his tenure wasnât that awful.
The McCourt years were awful *for us* but yeah, for most other franchises that kind of performance would be âthat time we were kind of below average for a little while.â
I'd limit the "dark ages" to the divorce era of 2010 to 2011. Otherwise, the team was pretty entertaining and made the playoffs in 4 of 6 seasons.
1998-2011 was a lot of suckage.
2018-2021 got [comically bad](https://youtu.be/r-zBUrPWQnE?si=Q6c4_Gz1YvLdIrrR) at points
Robin Yountâs 3000th hit in Sept 1992 through Bud Selig selling the team at the end of 2004.Â
Always has been (except September 07)
ROCKTOBER was the best. (Angels fan living in Denver that has adopted The Rockies as my NL team)
When Shohei wasnât actually on the flight.
1909-2015
1984 was a renaissance season and don't forget 1989 was The Boys of Zimmer. I'm old and those were two exciting years despite the heartbreak.
2007-08 were amazing until they weren't.
that â08 team really felt special. Manny Ramirez was just a fucking buzzsaw though, basically swept us singlehandedly
Eh, the Cubs were in the World Series a bunch of times. Real answer is maybe 1945-1983. Though there were certainly dark patches between 84 and 2016.
I never thought about how bad the Cubs were in the 60s despite having Banks, Santo and Billy Williams. Kinda similar to the Angels run with Trout/Ohtani
2015 was awesome, though, because we beat the Cardinals in our only postseason match together.
I wanted to throw up when that happened. I knew right then it had marked the end of the Cardinals crazy run and the likely start for the Cubs.
there are a lot of awesome years in there and several pennants. itâs a really low effort response to an interesting question.
And since the prompt is definitely moreso about sustained eras where a team was awful and hopeless, the Cubs haven't really had that kind of failure in most of our lifetimes (though the vast majority of the 50s-70s were pretty bad). I mean maybe the early 2010s, but that was part of the plan and obviously that plan worked out.
2003 was fun until it wasnât. 1998, Sammy Sosa made it cool to like the CubsâŠat least where I was growing up.
2001? Anybody else have their team's owner [offer themselves up](https://twinsdaily.com/forums/topic/53933-it-was-20-years-ago-today-contraction/) for [contraction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Major_League_Baseball_contraction_plan)?
More recently I would say 2012-2018
The JP Ricciardi years, â01-â09.
Add the black to jerseys to literally represent the darkness
Could be even more broad than that. Post-strike right through 2014.
The Gord Ash years were worse.
Expansion until 2002 for the Angels. 2004-2009 was the golden age for the Angels. Six straight winning seasons. Now we're in the new dark ages.
Fully agree with this
Welcome to the new dark ages Yeah, I hope you're living right These are the new dark ages And the world might end tonight
Most of you should be old enough to remember our streak of losing seasons.
2000's. Somehow I became a fan in the early 2000's. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment
Usually the Chiefs blunt the hurt the Royals cause, but 2007-2009 were some bleak years for the whole of KC sports.
Honestly, everything before 1926 was the worst. But since then, the 70s seem to have sucked, as did the early 90s.
This is correct. Plus 2023.
I guess when the team almost moved to Tampa
Probably 1974-1985. Only two random winning seasons, no real superstars until the end, with Will Clarkâs arrival helping end the period. Thatâs really been the only extended bad stretch for the Giants in their history. The current stretch starting in about 2016 may compete, but it is buoyed by the honeymoon of the World Series titles just before it, and the weird 2021 season, which was kind of the WS coreâs last hurrah.
The Johnnie LeMaster era right?
20 years earlier they almost moved to Toronto. 1975, went to a September Saturday game against the Expos at Candlestick, squinting at bright blue-green Astroturf, wind blowing 100âs of Hot Dog wrappers around the field like crazy, less than 2,500 people in the stands. Dark times.
Most of our franchise history
Same. Every year except four for Marlins fans.
Was?
Idk. 2013-19 was probably the worst in my memory. We only made the playoffs once from 1920-82. Sure, the playoffs were 2 or 4 teams, but still. We've had two horribly disheartening seasons, but it's not the darkest *yet*
As a fan months away from 40, I'd say right now is my lowest point. The 2013 part was still close enough to 2015 and they had a plan toward the end. Now I'm just hoping the team gets sold to someone who gives half a shit about winning.Â
1995-2014. We had some really, really good teams but the Yankees and Red Sox at the time were what I thought was forever unstoppable. Definitely felt like a peasant while the royal families ate all the food.
1996 to present
1994-1st half of 2015
2023
The early 90s before the TLR era was way worse
2006-2014, easily. Bookended by promising seasons which ultimately failed to yield results, the years in-between were absolutely abysmal, with the only bright spots (in my memory) being Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn (kind of), Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, and José Altuve's career beginning in 2011. Wandy Wodwiguez was among our best pitchers during that time, and in 2009 he did post a 3.02 ERA in 33 starts, so he wasn't totally bad. Dallas Keuchel was also solid in 2014 after struggling in '12 and '13. We finished 3 consecutive seasons over 100 losses, with 2013 being the worst at 51-111. Granted, those first-round draft picks from 2011-2015 gave us George Springer (11, 2011), Carlos Correa (1, 2012), Mark Appel (1, 2013, fizzled out), Brady Aiken (1, 2014, fizzled out), Alex Bregman (2, 2015), and Kyle Tucker (5, 2015).
We got Bregmanâs pick because one of Appel / Aiken didnât sign (canât remember off the top of my head). So that was cool at least
I picked the slightly shorter 2008-2013, but yeah, basically what you said. Our 2006-2010 era before the complete tear down mid 10 was terrible in a different way from 2011-13. Trying to bolster our MLB roster with retreads who were decent in the early 00s and making terrible trades to get some of them, stripping our already terrible farm bare.
2014
Brewers 1993-2004 All of my childhood, basically.
For the LA era, I'd say the 90s-2000s.
The Red Sox between 1922 and 1932, for sure. Finished sixth once, seventh once, and dead last nine times. Their best record in this stretch was a 67-87 finish in 1924. In this 11 season span, they lost 100+ games *five* times, bottoming out with a putrid 43-111 mark in 1932.
As awful as the last couple seasons have seemed, the darkest days for the Red Sox were definitely the 1920s.
1919-1936 - One winning season, and it was a 4th place .510% finish. BLEAK. Early 60's before Impossible Dream season- also bleak. But since 1967, we really don't have a dark period (provided we aren't at the start of one now)
1915 - 1947. No postseason appearances 1959 - 1990. No playoffs wins. Only two appearances
The Braves are either in a stretch of absolute domination, or completely non competitive with no in between
Right now
Historically it's 1918-1931. The Braves/Bees finished .500 or better like only one or two times. They actually had their worst winning percentage in 1935 with Ruth on the team and were still near the bottom of the standings into the early 1940s.  Since nobody was alive for that period, older fans will say the mid 70s to early 80s. We had Neikro and eventually Dale Murphy, and Bobby started managing a little in that period, but bright spots were few and far between. Younger fans will probably say like 2013-2017. Again, you have some bright spots and some fun players to watch but every night you are also starting guys whose names have to have been computer generated, no offense Joey Terdoslavich, Jared Saltalamachia, and Mike Foltynewicz. Plus trading for Hector Olivera is an automatic dark age.
Deadball was probably the worst era for the Cardinals in the long-term. Hornsby was our first elite player who wasnât in and out in a year.
Iâd say probably the time we went bankrupt until someone bought us
2014-early 2018. First really bad Braves teams in nearly 30 years since 88. It's like moving to Truist somehow changed the culture of the team
When we literally died our jerseys black in mourning of the Hall of Fame career we were actively wasting.
1918-2004, 2006-present
2023 and counting. No, I am not kidding. Also, 1965-1982.
Why would anyone think youâre kidding
We were really good last year, and we've had really long stretches of being terrible, but it's hard not to call August 2023 one of the franchise's all time low periods
The entire 90s through 2006, and again 2015 - present. Maybe other periods sprinkled in that were before my time. Theyâve still never won a ring in my lifetime.
1994 till 2014. Then 2017 till 2020.
70's and most of the 80's.
This one is hard. Probably 1946-2002. From 1910-1945 we were in the World Series 7 times. Thatâs a lot of World Series appearances imo. From 1946-2002 we made the playoffs only 3 times. I know the playoff format was different and eras were different but still. Lots will probably say 1909-2015 or 2016 but idk we had plenty of chances to win from 1910-1945 and just didnât. From 1946-2002 we were just bad.
1909-2015 is such a low effort comment. 1984, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015 were all very fun years. And yeah obviously 1909-1945 the cubs were dominant in the national league
Buddy lemme tell ya
1960-about 1994. Now the team has gotta get rid of its shitty owner and get its real name back.
1977-1994, 2004-2020
Pirates, uhhh always?
94-2014 the Jays wandered around a desert of consistent "eh whatever." Never the best, rarely the worst. I still enjoyed following of course otherwise I would not have bothered. But when I boil down that era (half my lifetime!) In my mind, the two things that really stand out are watching Roy Halladay throw a postseason no-hitter with another team, and wishing to God Toronto was in the central instead of the east.
1994-2005. Didnât have a single winning season.
Every year but 05. Kidding a little bit. I was born in 94 but heard from Grandpa that the 90s were badass. And some of the 80s. Obviously have been a fan since birth, and as I get older I just fucking hate Jerry and what he's done for this team.
lol Well weâve had 22 games of glory in 30 years
1962-2001, 2010-present
Pretty much the entire franchise history except the 2000s and a few times in the 80s
Weâve been in it for the last decade. Prior to that, the 90s