Are the Braves bad or are they historically bad?
There are many ways to interpret who exactly is the worst team of all time.
First, there’s winning percentage. By that metric, the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (.235) are the worst team of the modern era.
There’s also total number of losses. According to that standard, the 120-loss 1962 New York Mets are the most awful.
And then there’s FiveThirtyEight’s “Complete History of MLB” Elo rankings, which takes into account every result in the history of baseball. And by this method, the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics hold the lowest Elo rating (1362) at any point during a season in the modern era and could, again, be considered the worst team in Major League Baseball history.