{"id":899879,"date":"2026-05-24T10:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/899879\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T10:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:43:15","slug":"ranking-24-california-pro-sports-teams-from-worst-to-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/899879\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking 24 California pro sports teams from worst to first"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hopefully this list will be read in full before the arguments ensue. But we do expect vigorous debate.<\/p>\n

There are 24 professional teams in California representing six different leagues \u2013 the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL MSL and NWSL. We\u2019ve ranked them in order, from worst to first.<\/p>\n

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This was less science than art. To determine the rankings, we weighed each team\u2019s recent results, team history and cool factors.<\/p>\n

Cool: The cow bells at Sacramento Kings<\/a> games<\/p>\n

Very cool: Steph Curry<\/p>\n

Super cool: Shohei Ohtani<\/p>\n

Is it hard to compare football teams to basketball teams to hockey teams to soccer teams? You bet.<\/p>\n

But we did it anyway.<\/p>\n

1 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016 (Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

1 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016 (Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

2 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

A view of Los Angeles Rams helmets – including the blue and white (1964-1972), blue and yellow (1973-1999) and blue and gold (2000-2016) helmets – and the Olympic torch at the peristyle end of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Coliseum served as the temporary home of the Rams from 2016 through the 2019 season.<\/p>\n

(Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

3 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

Storage containers belonging to the Los Angeles Rams are secured on March 6, 2016 in the parking lot of the Residence Inn River Ridge where the rookie minicamp will be conducted.<\/p>\n

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

4 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

HBO Sports executive vice president Peter Nelson (left), “Hard Knocks” coordinating producer Ken Rodgers (second from left), “Hard Knocks” director Matt Dissinger and Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher at press conference at the Residence Inn Oxnard River Ridge to for a press conference for the Rams being a part of the HBO docuseries<\/a> to coincide with the team’s return to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

(Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

5 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams players Pharoh Cooper (10), Temarrick Hemingway (84), Josh Forrest (59), Tyler Higbee (89), Jared Goff (16) and Mike Thomas (13) pose before a Major League Baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 6, 2015.<\/p>\n

(Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

6 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

On June 16, 2016, an artist rendering of Inglewood Stadium (City of Champions Stadium) built on the site of the former Hollywood Park Racetrack are revealed. The facility was initially scheduled to open in 2019, but SoFi Stadium held its first Rams home game in 2020.<\/p>\n

(Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

7 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff throws a pass at organized team activities at the River Ridge Fields on Oxnard, California, on June 16, 2016. Goff was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

8 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

Fans watch as players warm up for a preseason game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Dallas Cowboys at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Aug. 13, 2026. The preseason game was (unofficially) the Rams’ first home game in the L.A. area since the 1994 season.<\/p>\n

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

9 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams take the field for a preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

10 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw watches the preseason game between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Aug. 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports)\"\"<\/p>\n

11 \/ 11<\/p>\n

Revisit the Rams’ return to Los Angeles in 2016<\/p>\n

The Rams\u2019 first season back in L.A. started with success<\/a> \u2013 back-to-back sold-out preseason games at the 90,000-seat Coliseum against the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports)24. Sacramento Kings<\/p>\n

Cowtown, as Phil Jackson branded it, has produced more boos than moos in the past two decades. Unfortunately, their team finished 22-60 last season and failed to make the playoffs for the 19th time in 20 years.<\/p>\n

Went on their way to an 11th losing season, quite a feat considering they had Shohei Ohtani for six of those seasons.<\/p>\n

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The three WNBA titles feel like distant history as the Sparks try to avoid their sixth straight losing season.<\/p>\n

21. San Jose Earthquakes<\/p>\n

Have suffered through 10 straight non-winning seasons, but at least they can reminisce about winning the MLS Cup 2001 and 2003.<\/p>\n

20. Bay FC<\/p>\n

In danger of posting their third straight losing season after making their NWSL debut in 2024.<\/p>\n

19. Athletics<\/p>\n

Spending time atop the AL West this season, but it\u2019s still early to celebrate for a lame-duck team with four straight losing seasons and 112 losses in 2023.<\/p>\n

18. Angel City FC<\/p>\n

Finished with a record of 7-13-6 in each of the last two seasons and have missed the playoffs in three of four seasons since their NWSL debut in 2022.<\/p>\n

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The Giants are foundering and on their way to missing the playoffs for the 11th time in the last 12. Thank heavens for the kayaks and McCovey Cove.<\/p>\n

Snapped its string of six straight losing seasons with a 39-35 finish in 2005-26. But have not qualified for the NHL playoffs since 2019.<\/p>\n

Without Splash Sisters, the Valkyries finished 23-21 in 2025 during their inaugural season in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

14. San Diego FC<\/p>\n

Went 19-9-6 in 2025, the team\u2019s inaugural season in the MLS, and reached the Western Conference final before losing to the Vancouver Whitecaps.<\/p>\n

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13. San Diego Wave FC<\/p>\n

Off to a strong start in 2026 after reaching the playoffs in three of the past four seasons, they made their NWSL debut in 2022.<\/p>\n

Finished with a 43-33 record this past season for their first winning record in eight years, and won the first-round playoff series vs. the Edmonton Oilers<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kings have made the playoffs in five straight seasons. Now it\u2019s time to win a playoff series, which hasn\u2019t happened in 12 seasons.<\/p>\n

The first NBA title in franchise history remains elusive, but the Clippers have had 15 straight winning seasons and reached the playoffs in 12 of the past 14 seasons.<\/p>\n

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9. Los Angeles FC<\/p>\n

Since LAFC\u2019s inaugural season in the MLS, the team has reached the playoffs seven times in eight seasons and won the MLS Cup in 2022.<\/p>\n

8. Los Angeles Chargers<\/p>\n

Posted records of 11-6 in each of Jim Harbaugh\u2019s first two seasons as the Chargers\u2019 head coach. Still looking for their first playoff victory since 2019.<\/p>\n

7. LA Galaxy<\/p>\n

Missed playoffs four of last six seasons but won MLS Cup in 2024 \u2013 their sixth in franchise history and most in MLS history.<\/p>\n

Once again, they\u2019re battling the Dodgers in the NL West, and the team is supremely talented. But those National League pennants from 1984 and 1998 are getting dusty.<\/p>\n

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5. Golden State Warriors<\/p>\n

The Warriors failed to reach the playoffs in two of the past three seasons, but they still deserve to be this high on the list thanks to NBA titles in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022 and\u00a0Steph Curry\u2019s 3-point exploits.<\/p>\n

Nobody will mistake this team for the Showtime Lakers or the version that featured Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O\u2019Neal. But they\u2019ve reached the playoffs six times in seven seasons and won the NBA championship in 2020.<\/p>\n

Made playoffs five of last seven years, during which the 49ers reached the NFL Championship game twice and lost the 2020 Super\u00a0Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime.<\/p>\n

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2. Los Angeles Rams<\/p>\n

This past season reached the NFC Championship game for the second time in five seasons. Won the Super Bowl in 2022 and are a co-favorite to win another in 2027.<\/p>\n

1. Los Angeles Dodgers<\/p>\n

A lock to make the playoffs for the 14th straight season, which will equal a record held by the Atlanta Braves, and seeking a third consecutive World Series title.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California pro sports teams ranked from worst to first<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hopefully this list will be read in full before the arguments ensue. But we do expect vigorous debate.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[35928,28297,11449,241,13167,10463,7,26990,3647,110,13169,3507,1014,30460,58,40439,2444,2611,61332,155,6,5317,15916,120835,424,30461,18161,20692,252,16517,18148,10007,4553,21725],"class_list":["post-899879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-rams","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-angels","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-chargers","tag-dodgers","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-football","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kings","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesrams","tag-losing-season","tag-nba","tag-nfl","tag-nhl-playoffs","tag-nwsl","tag-phil-jackson","tag-rams","tag-sacramento-kings","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-san-jose-earthquakes","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-steph-curry"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}