Biggest losers to win major sports championships

The CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks won the Grey Cup on Sunday night with a thrilling overtime victory over, despite having a losing record (8-9-1 in the East Division) during the regular season. Ottawa became the first team in CFL history to win its conference with a sub-.500 record.

The Redblacks, however, aren’t the only CFL team to win a championship despite a losing record. Both the Calgary Stampeders (2001) and B.C. Lions (2000) won their respective titles with an equally bad 8-10 record. In honour of the Redblacks’ underdog victory, here are the biggest losers to win a major championship:

1938 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

There have been bad NHL teams who have gone on to win the Stanley Cup, but none come close to the 1938 Chicago Blackhawks (nee Black Hawks) and their 14-25-9 regular season record. Even with their sub-.500 record, the Blackhawks went on to win hockey’s Holy Grail with a 3-1 series victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the final year the NHL had a best-of-five series.

2006 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

There is some debate on the worst team in the majors to win a world series, but if we’re going by win percentage, the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals take the title. The Cardinals finished the regular season with an 83-73 record, making their .516 win percentage the lowest ever for a World Series champion.

2011 NEW YORK GIANTS

The New York Giants, with their 9-7 record, is the worst team (win percentage wise) to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Giants made history as being the only team with a negative point differential at minus-6, to ever win a Super Bowl (394 points scored and 400 points allowed).

1978 Washington Bullets

The 1978 Washington Bullets finished the regular season with a 44-38 record before going on to beat the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Final. Surprisingly, the SuperSonics weren’t much better themselves in the regular season, so at least it wasn’t that much of an underdog victory.