The Greatest (Worst) Game in Baseball History

You might say it was the worst day of baseball of all time.

Which is exactly what made it the best.

Earlier today, Yeshiva University’s baseball team played a doubleheader against Lehman College. The Yeshiva Maccabees (Yeshiva is an orthodox Jewish school) entered the matchup with a 99-game losing streak in Division III play. They once lost a game 36-0. The other team scored 16 runs in a single inning.

The Lehman Lightning, meanwhile, brought a losing streak that extended to only 42 games.

Together, they’d lost nearly an entire MLB season’s worth of games in a row—141 straight.

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Ahead of the doubleheader, NBC News asked the NCAA if two worse teams had ever played in a game before. In reply, the NCAA’s spokesperson asked to clarify how many consecutive. losses each program had. The result left even the NCAA itself breathless.

“Wow,” the spokesperson replied. “Those are big numbers.”

It was a matchup so bad that it could only occur at a venue befitting the occasion: in Teaneck, NJ, at a ballpark where the third-base line is marked by state highway Route 4. There were no lights, which meant both games had to completed before nightfall. And the weather? It was 39° with wind gusts of up to 30 mph. As Ernie Banks once said: “Let’s play two!”

Yeshiva struck first. Lehman fought back. And for two teams used to playing in front of empty bleachers, on this day, something was different: people were finally watching.

Inspired by the idea that history was at stake, a crowd had gathered behind the backstop. A Lehman administrator said it was the largest group the team had played for in a decade. Fans shared videos, cheered, and above all, shot each other side-eyes as if to say, “What on earth are we witnessing?” Sure, the quality of play was, frankly, terrible. But even through the grainy YouTube stream that I followed, you could feel the passion. These teams wanted this. They were trying so hard.

Due to the double header and fading light, each game lasted only 7  innings, and in the opener, heading into the 7^th , Yeshiva clung to a 6-4 lead. Then disaster struck.

Then Yeshiva walked a Lehman batter.

And another.

Then they hit a batter.

Bases loaded.

Lehman smashed a double into the right field corner, and two Lightning runners hustled across home.

The game went into extras, 6-6. In the top of the 8^th , Lehman got runners on first and second base with no outs. Clearly sensing the type of game that this was, Lightning manager Chris Delgado, who played for the team when they had their last win more than 42 games ago and was still looking for his first win as a manager, called for his team to lay down a sacrifice bunt. 

That move proved to be the difference. Yeshiva couldn’t handle the bunt; nobody covered first. And with the bases loaded and nobody out, the Macabees hit a Lightning batter. They won game one—7-6.

The first streak was broken. Yeshiva’s extended to 100 games.

But today was a day of miracles. And a miracle—on Passover week no less—is what the Maccabees would get. 

They regrouped for a second game, and all of a sudden, they scored one run. Then another. Then another. Their lead grew to 7-3. The sun was setting, and the countdown began. And finally—on a dribbler in front of the plate—the Maccabbees’ catcher fielded the ball cleanly and tossed to first.

Game over. 

Streak over.

The greatest and worst doubleheader of all-time was complete.

On paper, there have been Little League matchups with bigger implications. There were no scouts, no pennants at stake, and certainly no TV audience.

Instead, it was just two teams with 141 losses playing in a ballpark off a highway.

Two teams that couldn’t win. Trying desperately not to lose.

And somehow, they both pulled it off.

👟 Last weekend, Grand Slam Track debuted with its first ever meet in Kingston, Jamaica (incredible touch), and the action was as heated as you’d want. Ahead of the 100m race, U.S. Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek told anybody who would listen that he was going to win the race. Local favorite Oblique Seville, who went to high school less than 5 miles from the stadium where the event was held, had otherwise. The result was a spectacular duel—and Bednarek won by 0.01 seconds.

🏀 UCONN’s Paige Bueckers has had a spotlight on her since she was in 8^th grade. She was always supposed to win a championship and do it easily. Then came injuries. Heartbreak. For ESPN, Alexa Philippou writes about how Bueckers and UCONN “got their fairy-tale ending with a national title.”

⚾ After a freak accident, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May hadn’t pitched in nearly two years. He returned to the MLB last week—and struck out the side in his first inning back.

🗓️ Coming Friday:
Your weekend viewing guide—what to watch, and why to care.

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