Longest Losing Streaks in MLB History

The longest losing streak in MLB history is the 1889 Louisville Colonels’ 26 straight defeats. In the modern era, since 1900, the record belongs to the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 games in a row, while the 1899 Cleveland Spiders dropped 24 straight during the worst season any team has ever played.

A losing streak is a different record from a bad season, though the two often overlap. Some streaks come from historically awful teams; others, like the 1988 Orioles’ start, strike an otherwise ordinary club. Here is how baseball’s longest skids rank, and why these streaks have endured. All figures are through the 2025 season.

The record holder: the 1889 Louisville Colonels

The 1889 Louisville Colonels lost 26 consecutive games, the longest losing streak in Major League Baseball history. It came during a dismal 27-111 season in the old American Association, and the streak has never been matched. Because it predates the modern era, though, it is often cited separately from the records that begin in 1900.

That distinction matters in baseball, where the game before 1900 differed so much from what followed that the sport keeps parallel record books. The Colonels hold the outright mark; the modern list starts elsewhere.

The full leaderboard of losing streaks

The table below ranks the longest losing streaks in MLB history, blending the 19th-century records with the modern era.

Team	Season	Streak	Note
Louisville Colonels	1889	26	Longest ever
Cleveland Spiders	1899	24	During the worst season ever
Philadelphia Phillies	1961	23	Modern-era record
Baltimore Orioles	1988	21	Longest to open a season (0-21)
Montreal Expos	1969	20	Expansion-year skid

The Colonels and Spiders lead from the 19th century. The 1961 Phillies top the modern era, with the 1988 Orioles and 1969 Expos close behind.

The 1961 Phillies: the modern record

The modern standard is the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 games in a row in August and September. It remains the longest single-season losing streak of the post-1900 era, more than six decades later. The Phillies were a poor team that year, but the streak took on a life of its own, becoming a national curiosity as it stretched toward a month of daily defeats.

When Philadelphia finally won, the players were greeted almost as if they had clinched something, a measure of how much attention the streak had drawn. That 23-game mark has proved remarkably durable.

The 1988 Orioles: the worst start

A distinct record belongs to the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who opened the season 0-21, the longest losing streak to begin a year in MLB history. Baltimore fired manager Cal Ripken Sr. just six games in, but the losing rolled on into late April. Unlike the Phillies’ late-summer skid, the Orioles’ streak defined their entire season from the first pitch.

Baltimore actually recovered to play respectable baseball afterward, which underscores that a record losing streak does not always mean a record-worst team, just a record-worst stretch.

Where these streaks fit

Losing streaks and losing seasons feed each other. The 1899 Spiders’ 24-game skid came inside the worst record in MLB history, and the whole idea of a streak is the flip side of baseball’s greatest runs, such as the longest winning streaks in MLB history. One record book measures how long a team can keep winning; this one measures how long it can keep losing.

Why these records matter

The longest losing streaks endure because they are so specific: a single stretch of consecutive defeats, unbroken by even one win. That is harder to sustain than it sounds, since even a bad team usually stumbles into an occasional victory. To lose 20 or more in a row requires a rare alignment of poor play, tough scheduling, and bad luck.

The short version: the longest losing streak in MLB history is the 1889 Louisville Colonels’ 26 games, with the 1899 Spiders’ 24 close behind. The modern record is the 1961 Phillies’ 23, and the 1988 Orioles hold the mark for the worst start at 0-21. Through the 2025 season, those streaks define baseball’s futility.