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The 2018 season was a bad one for Orlando City SC but just how bad was it?

We compared a multitude of stats against ten other of the worst campaigns in Major League Soccer history.

It’s worth noting that there have been a range of season lengths and some earlier seasons did not allow for matches to end in draws, instead using a penalty shootout or overtime as tiebreakers so percentage and per game stats have been provided as a better comparison tool.

The lowest points tallies recorded in Major League Soccer (Credit: © Andrew Sharp)

Winning

2018 Orlando City SC knew how to win… for a little bit anyway!

They’re top of the 11-team list when it comes to wins having notched up eight this year. However, six of them came in the first nine games of the season meaning that the Lions only managed two wins out of the remaining 23 games, just 8.7%.

2013 D.C. United hold the record for least wins with three despite playing a full 34-game season. Orlando City SC don’t just have the most wins but also the highest win percentage at 23.53%, significantly ahead of the 2nd-placed team on the list, 2009’s New York Red Bulls who won five of their 30 games, a rate of 16.67%.

Losing

Orlando City SC saw defeat 22 times in 2018, the second highest total in MLS history and just two less than the all-time record of 24 losses set by 2013 D.C. United.

The 2018 Orlando City SC loss rate of 64.71% is the fifth highest by percentage behind the aforementioned D.C. United team as well as both Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake who matched the Lions’ 22 losses but in two fewer matches in 2005, and the 2001 Tampa Bay Mutiny who lost a record 77.78% of their 27 games, albeit with three of their losses occurring in golden goal overtime.

Points

The Lions earned 28 points in 2018, more than the other ten teams we looked at. At a rate of 0.824 per game, only 2007 Toronto FC bettered that effort with 0.833.

However, as previously mentioned, City earned the 18 of their 28 points in the six-game win streak from March 31 to May 6. Indeed the team picked up more than twice as many points per game in Jason Kreis’ 15 games in charge as they did with James O’Connor at the helm, nothing short of a dramatic nosedive.

On the flipside, Tampa Bay Mutiny’s 2001 yielded a record low 14 points from 27 games with the 1999 MetroStars averaging a lowly 0.469 points per game across 32 games, a record compounded by the fact they missed out on five points by losing in five of their eight tie-break penalty shootouts.

Goals scored

Having found the back of the net 43 times, Orlando City SC’s 2018 season trails only the efforts of this year’s San Jose Earthquakes who finished bottom of the Supporters’ Shield standings despite scoring 49 times, with the Lions’ 1.26 goals per game also good enough for second place.

It’s a clear indication of MLS’ evolution into a goal-heavy, attack-focused league.

The award for least goals in a single season goes to D.C. United who only netted 22 times in 2013, a record low rate of 0.65 per game in a season that saw them blank in 16 of their 34 games.

Goals conceded

It is no secret that Orlando City SC set a new record in 2018 when they conceded 74 goals, four more than Minnesota United’s then-record of 70 in their inaugural campaign last year.

But did you know San Jose Earthquakes also passed that benchmark as they ended the season having shipped 71?

City do not, however, hold the record for most goals conceded per game average. They instead sit second behind the 2001 Tampa Bay Mutiny who conceded 68 times in just 27 matches which translates as 2.52 per game. If they had kept that rate up in a 34-game season they would have conceded a staggering 85 goals.

With 47 goals conceded in 30 games working out as a rate of 1.57 per game, the 2009 New York Red Bulls can claim to be best defence across MLS’ worst ever teams.

Losing streak

The MetroStars didn’t pick up a single point from the end of June until the start of September in 1999, a streak of twelve consecutive losses although removing shootout losses from that figure would put the run at nine, the same length slump that hit Central Florida this year.

That series of results was the nail in the coffin for Jason Kreis and would later extend through the interim stewardship of Bobby Murphy and into James O’Connor’s debut outing.

The longest post-shootout era losing streak was recorded by Real Salt Lake in 2005 who were beaten inside 90 minutes in ten consecutive games.

With a season-long losing streak of only four, 2003 Dallas Burn, 2005 Chivas USA and 2007 Toronto FC didn’t make their fans wait too long to see their teams at least avoid defeat.

Winless streak

In terms of failing to win, 2003 Dallas Burn’s longest stretch was six games, the shortest of the seasons listed and, despite playing in a season that saw draws go into overtime, they only managed five draws and one defeat in their six overtime games.

Conversely, the longest single-season winless streak is a hefty 19 games set by the MetroStars in 1999 who took four games to penalties in that stretch but only managed to pick up one point.

Orlando City SC’s longest wait for a win in 2018 was 13 games, the third longest drought in a single season.

Goalless streak

Orlando City SC went 507 consecutive minutes across six games without scoring this year, the third longest of the teams being analysed.

The accolade of least proficient attack in MLS history goes to 2007 Toronto FC who spent an excruciating 824 minutes across 11 games trying and failing to score.

The shortest goalless streak on the list is the 263 minutes that Chivas USA failed to score in in 2005. The side never went more than two games without a goal.