Last time no MLB team finished the season with 100 wins: A look back at ultimate parity

We're a little over a month left away from the Major League Baseball regular season coming to an end. As the game continues to garner new interest from more casual viewers, the parity of the league today should certainly help with that. While there are favorites to win the World Series, there are a ton of very good teams that could also get hot at the right time.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Phillies remain favorites to win the World Series, but there is a possibility none of them will win 100 games this season. In fact, for the first time in a long time, there may not be a single 100-win team.

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When was the last time there were no 100-win teams in MLB?

Obviously excluding the 2020 season, the last time there wasn't a 100-win team in a season was 2014. Going back to that season, only six teams had 90 or more wins. The Los Angeles Angels finished 2014 with the most victories with a 98-64 record.

It was a year we witnessed the Orioles, Tigers, and Angels clinch their respective divisions in the American League, while the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals secured Wild Card playoff berths. Over in the National League, the Nationals, Cardinals, and Dodgers all clinched their divisions, while the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates snagged the NL Wild Card slots. As another year with the ultimate parity, we watched two Wild Card teams in the Giants and Royals battle it out for the World Series, which needed a Game 7 to decide the winner. The Giants won the 2014 World Series after only winning 88 games during the regular season.

Since 2014, we've come close in two different seasons to not having a 100-win team. The following season in 2015 the Cardinals were the only team to do so with 100 wins, and the following season in 2016, the Chicago Cubs were the only team to break the barrier with 103 wins. The Cardinals were eliminated by the Cubs in the NLDS in 2015, and the Cubs broke the 'Curse of the Billy Goat' in 2016 by winning it all in 7 games against the Cleveland Guardians (formerly known as the Indians).

Which teams have the best chance to reach 100 wins this season?

Now that we've traveled back to the last time there were no 100-win teams to reach the postseason in MLB, we can look at the possibility of that happening again in 2024. Depending on whether you enjoy dominant dynasties in sports or if you prefer parity, we can sit here today and say MLB has both.

With 30 games left, there are only a number of teams that have a chance to surpass 100 wins this season. The Yankees, Orioles, Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Phillies have the best chance to do so, meanwhile some teams would have to win every single game left on their schedule, which is just unrealistic at this point.

It's a good indication to where the future of baseball is headed. The game has the ultimate parity once again, and as we reach this final stretch, it'll be interesting to see if history once again repeats itself as no team wins 100 games to finish the season.