<P> The 1935 Boston Braves featured Hall of Famers Rabbit Maranville (age 43) and Babe Ruth (age 40). Braves owner Emil Fuchs had promised Ruth an ownership stake in the Braves and a chance to manage the club in the near future, but had little intention of delivering either . Ruth retired on June 1, 1935, having hit . 181 in 72 at - bats for the Braves, with six home runs (the last three all coming on the same day, May 25, 1935, at Pittsburgh). Fuchs, who had been plagued by financial problems for a decade, was forced to give up control of the Braves before the end of the season . The Braves' home winning percentage of . 167 is the fifth - lowest of any MLB team and the lowest since 1900 . </P> <P> The 1939 Browns drew 386 fans to the park for a 7--4 home loss to Detroit on September 27 . </P> <P> The 1962 New York Mets were an expansion team created to fill the void after the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers left New York City at end of the 1957 season . The Mets, filled with castoffs like "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry as well as aging Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn and low - talent rookies such as Choo - Choo Coleman, finished with the third - worst winning percentage in the modern era and the modern - era record for most losses . The Mets went on to finish last or next - to - last for seven years in a row, before they shocked the baseball world by winning the 1969 World Series . </P> <P> The 2003 Tigers seemed like a sure bet to break the 1962 Mets' modern record for most losses when they stood at 38--118 after 156 games, but they won five of their last six to avoid ignominy . On September 27, in their penultimate game, the Tigers came back from an 8--0 deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 9--8 (the Twins, having just clinched the division, were resting their starters). When the Tigers won the season finale to avoid tying the record, they received a standing ovation from the crowd . Mike Maroth, a starting pitcher for the 2003 Detroit Tigers, went 9--21 and became the first pitcher to lose 20 games in a season since Brian Kingman dropped 20 games for the 1980 Oakland Athletics . Ramón Santiago of the Tigers became only the 12th Triple Crown loser (a player who finishes last in all of the three Triple Crown categories) in modern MLB history . One baseball statistician described the Tigers as possibly "the worst team of all time without a good excuse", as virtually every other team on the list had been reduced to minor - league status, plagued by financial problems or was a first - year expansion team . </P>

Record for most mlb losses in a season