1979 Oakland Athletics (54-108) 4

The A's of the early to mid 70's, who won 3 straight Series and 5 divisions in a row, were a powerhouse that probably only rank behind the Big Red Machine for greatest team of that decade. Though they had better pitching overall than the Reds their lineup wasn't as strong. With the advent of free agency, owner Charlie Finley began cutting loose stars like Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi, Vida Blue, Bert Campaneris, Rollie Fingers, and so on, and by 1977, The A's were an awful team. In '79, they went 54-108, and practically their only really good player of note was a rookie named Rickey Henderson. However, in '80 and '81 they returned to contention and overachieved under new manager Billy Martin, who developed a staff of young hurlers to go along with a good outfield of Henderson,Tony Armas,and Dwayne Murphy. The pitchers, guys like Mike Norris, Rick Langford, Matt Keough, and Steve McCatty all were overworked by Martin, and all came down with arm problems. The A's fell back to mediocrity and worse before emerging as a power again in the late 80's. 3.5, a bad team to be sure, but not near the bottom all-time.