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FILE – Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds (14) and Bud Harrelson (3) of the New York Mets engage in a tussle after double play action during the fifth inning of the third National League playoff game in New York, Oct. 8, 1973.<\/p>\n
Harry Harris\/AP Photo\/Harry Harris<\/p>\n
Texas Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo, right, misplays the ball that allowed New York Mets’ Francisco Alvarez to reach second and Carson Benge to score as center fielder Ezequiel Duran, left, looks on in the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
Tony Gutierrez\/AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n
A Houston Astros fan wears large Astros-themed sombrero before a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Houston, Sunday, Sept. 20 2026. (Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle via AP)<\/p>\n
Jason Fochtman\/Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
FILE – San Diego Padres players watch the end of Game One of the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals from the dugout rail in St. Louis, Oct. 4, 2005.<\/p>\n
MARK HUMPHREY\/AP Photo\/MARK HUMPHREY<\/p>\n
FILE – Miami Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr., right, celebrates with manager Skip Schumaker after clinching a playoff berth with a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Sept. 30, 2023.<\/p>\n
Gene J. Puskar\/AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar<\/p>\n
With just a few days left in the regular season, the AL West might make a particularly mediocre kind of history.<\/p>\n
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After Tuesday night’s games, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros were tied for first place at 78-79. No full-season division champion has ever had a losing record.<\/p>\n
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In fact, no team has made the postseason with a sub-.500 record, unless you count a trio of participants from years the playoffs were temporarily expanded: In the 2020 season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Milwaukee and Houston were both 29-31 and made the postseason. In 1981, the Kansas City Royals went 50-53 overall \u2014 but they were the AL West’s top team in the post-strike second half, meaning they got in.<\/p>\n
MLB expanded its postseason to 12 teams in 2022, raising the likelihood that a sub-.500 team would sneak into October at some point. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the American League could have several clubs with losing marks in this year’s playoffs. The AL Central’s Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox have since reached 81 wins, so that won’t happen. But the AL West title race could still yield a losing team.<\/p>\n
In honor of that, here are 10 of the weakest teams to make the postseason, listed in chronological order with their records and run differentials in mind. Note that some of them went on lengthy postseason runs \u2014 so don’t count out the Rangers or Astros just yet.<\/p>\n
1973 New York Mets<\/p>\n
Record: 82-79 (first in NL East)<\/p>\n
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Postseason: Beat Cincinnati 3-2 in NL Championship Series, lost to Oakland 4-3 in World Series<\/p>\n
The rallying cry was \u201cYa gotta believe!\u201d from reliever Tug McGraw. It wasn’t easy when New York was in last place after an Aug. 30 loss, but the Mets went 21-8 the rest of the way to win the division by 1 1\/2 games. Tom Seaver (19-10, 2.08 ERA, 18 complete games) was still at the peak of his powers, and New York held the Reds to eight runs in five games in the NLCS \u2014 a series best remembered for a brawl<\/a> involving Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose. The Mets led the World Series 3-2 and had Seaver starting Game 6, but they couldn’t close out the Athletics.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n 1984 Kansas City Royals<\/p>\n Record: 84-78 (first in AL West)<\/p>\n Run differential: minus-13<\/p>\n Postseason: Lost to Detroit 3-0 in ALCS<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Royals were 11 games under .500 in the middle of July, but they did enough to win the AL West. George Brett hit .284 \u2014 his worst average in a 14-year span from 1975-88 \u2014 and he was one of just two All-Stars on the team. The other was Dan Quisenberry, who had 44 saves while throwing 129 1\/3 innings. He finished second in the Cy Young race behind fellow reliever Willie Hern\u00e1ndez of the Tigers. Although Kansas City took the division almost by default in ’84, the Royals improved to 91 wins the following year and won the World Series.<\/p>\n 1987 Minnesota Twins<\/p>\n Record: 85-77 (first in AL West)<\/p>\n Run differential: minus-20<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Postseason: Beat Detroit 4-1 in ALCS, beat St. Louis 4-3 in World Series<\/p>\n Frank Viola was the star of a pitching staff that otherwise offered little \u2014 aside from a trio of big names on the downside of their careers. Bert Blyleven allowed 46 home runs, Joe Niekro posted a 6.26 ERA and Steve Carlton made seven largely woeful starts for this Minnesota team. The Twins could hit, though. Kirby Puckett was third in the MVP race, while Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti and Tom Brunansky each surpassed 30 homers. Home-field advantage wasn’t determined by record back then, so Minnesota had it in the ALCS despite finishing 13 games behind the Tigers, and again in the World Series after being 10 games worse than the Cardinals. The Twins went 6-0 at the Metrodome in the postseason.<\/p>\n 1995 Colorado Rockies<\/p>\n Record: 77-67 (second in NL West, wild card)<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Postseason: Lost 3-1 to Atlanta in NL Division Series<\/p>\n The first wild card in National League history was this Colorado team in a season shortened by the end of the 1994-95 work stoppage. The Rockies’ ERA of 4.97 is the worst of the live ball era by a postseason team in a non-DH league. Colorado made up for that, not surprisingly, by leading the NL in runs. Dante Bichette led the league in home runs and RBIs and finished third in batting average.<\/p>\n 2005 San Diego Padres<\/p>\n Record: 82-80 (first in NL West)<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Run differential: minus-42<\/p>\n Postseason: Lost 3-0 to St. Louis in NLDS<\/p>\n Jake Peavy and a Trevor Hoffman-led bullpen helped San Diego reach the playoffs, but this team never looked the part. The Padres scored the fourth-fewest runs in all of baseball, and their starters went 52-60 with a 4.49 ERA. In the postseason, San Diego never had the lead at any point against the 100-win Cardinals. Game 1 was 8-0 after six innings, Game 2 was 6-1 after seven, and Game 3 was 7-0 after 4 1\/2.<\/p>\n 2006 St. Louis Cardinals<\/p>\n Record: 83-78 (first in NL Central)<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Postseason: Beat San Diego 3-1 in NLDS, beat New York Mets 4-3 in NLCS, beat Detroit 4-1 in World Series<\/p>\n