Baseball is a sport built on superstition. From rally caps to players refusing to step on foul lines, everyone is just trying to dodge the baseball gods’ wrath. But some teams? They were just born to suffer. Whether it’s heartbreaking losses, bizarre bad luck, or just decades of pure mediocrity, these franchises seem to have been hexed from the start.
So, let’s rank the 10 most cursed teams in MLB history—because sometimes, it’s not just bad management, it’s something darker.
10. St. Louis Browns (Now the Baltimore Orioles)
A team so cursed, they just… stopped existing. Before they became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954, the St. Louis Browns spent decades as the doormat of baseball, racking up losing seasons like it was their job. Their most memorable moment? Sending a 3-foot-7 pinch hitter to the plate as a publicity stunt in 1951. Legendary. The curse clearly stuck around, as the Orioles have had their fair share of misery over the years too.
9. Seattle Mariners
The Mariners are like that one friend who keeps trying but never quite figures it out. They’ve never been to a World Series. Ever. They wasted Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki, two of the most electrifying players of their era. And when they finally won a record 116 games in 2001? Boom. Eliminated in the ALCS. If the baseball gods have favorites, Seattle is definitely not on that list.
8. Texas Rangers (Pre-2023)
A team that spent 50 years wandering the baseball desert with nothing to show for it. The Rangers had their chances—like when they were literally one strike away from winning the 2011 World Series… TWICE. Did they win? No, of course not. Instead, they let David Freese and the Cardinals rip their souls out in one of the most painful collapses ever. Even when they do succeed, it never quite feels safe.
7. San Diego Padres
No championships. Very little success. And a fanbase that just wants to be happy. The Padres are like a puppy who keeps getting kicked by the bigger, meaner dogs in the NL. They’ve reached two World Series (1984, 1998), only to get absolutely steamrolled both times. Even when they finally pulled off a big-money, star-powered rebuild in recent years, it still blew up in their faces.
6. Chicago White Sox
The White Sox could’ve been just another struggling team, but then they went and threw the 1919 World Series. You know, the Black Sox Scandal? That little event where their own players got bribed to lose? Yeah, that probably didn’t sit well with the baseball gods. They waited 88 years to finally win another title in 2005, but even now, they still manage to find ways to be a complete mess.
5. Boston Red Sox (Pre-2004)
Ah, the “Curse of the Bambino.” The Red Sox traded Babe Ruth in 1919, and what followed was 86 years of gut-wrenching, soul-crushing failure. Buckner’s error, Bucky Dent’s homer, Aaron Boone’s walk-off—Boston fans saw it all. Then, in 2004, they finally exorcised their demons, breaking the curse in legendary fashion. They’ve been mostly fine since, but for nearly a century? Pure suffering.
4. Brooklyn Dodgers (Pre-1955)
Before they became the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers, the Brooklyn Dodgers were known as “Dem Bums” for a reason. They made the World Series five times between 1941 and 1953—and lost every single one. Usually to the Yankees. They finally won in 1955, but by then, the trauma was already deeply embedded in their DNA. Then, in true cursed fashion, the team just up and left Brooklyn for LA two years later.
3. Cleveland Guardians (Formerly Indians)
The “Curse of Rocky Colavito” has been looming over Cleveland since they traded their beloved slugger in 1960. Since then? No championships. They had a shot in 1997—up a run in the ninth inning of Game 7—only to blow it and watch the Marlins celebrate. Then 2016 happened: up 3-1 in the World Series, only to let the Cubs (of all teams) break their curse at Cleveland’s expense. Pain. Just endless pain.
2. Chicago Cubs (Pre-2016)
The Cubs were the gold standard for curses before finally breaking the “Curse of the Billy Goat” in 2016. Over 100 years of suffering. Steve Bartman. The Black Cat. The weird, supernatural ability to choke in the biggest moments. The Cubs turned losing into an art form, and Wrigley Field became a shrine to sports misery. Their 2016 championship erased a century of heartbreak, but their spot in cursed history remains legendary.
1. Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals (Pre-2019)
No team has been jerked around by fate quite like the Montreal Expos. They were baseball’s “what-if” team—forever on the verge of greatness, only for disaster to strike. Their best team ever? The 1994 Expos. A juggernaut. A World Series favorite. Then—BOOM—MLB cancels the season due to a strike, robbing them of their shot at glory. A decade later, they were ripped from Montreal and moved to Washington. Even when they won a World Series as the Nationals in 2019, it somehow felt like too little, too late.
