It has been a season to forget for many teams.
While many teams, whether it be from front office mismanagement, injuries, or simply bad player performances, have disappointed in 2010, among them the Red Sox, Mets, Cubs, and Dodgers. Fortunately for these teams, however, it could be worse.
They could be the Orioles, Royals, Mariners, Nationals, Pirates, or Diamondbacks.
These are the six teams at the bottom of their respective divisions (the Royals are actually tied with the Indians, but are included as the representative team based on a worse Pythagorean W-L). Which team deserves the dubious title of “worst”, however?
Defining the worst is a tough process, and multiple factors go into it. Of course, 2010 performance has to be weighed heavily into the mix, but all six of these teams performed badly. Luck must also be considered (example, if the team significantly underperformed their Pythagorean W-L, like the Cardinals have), as must the team’s expected performance going forward.
Without further adieu, and using Jeff Zimmerman’s preseason rankings as a farm system point of reference, here are the rankings of the six bottom feeders in MLB, in order from most to least hope in 2011.