If it's any consolation, the San Jose Earthquakes finished the 2009 season with an even worse record than in their 2008 "winning" season but were only thwarted from consecutive Wooden Spoon wins by NYRB's historically bad 2009 season. ... -G
https://www.mlssoccer.com/standings/mls/2008/ doesn't list the tiebreakers used then, but you had the same record as Los Angeles with a goal differential 1 better, so you wouldn't have won the Wooden Spoon with the current tiebreakers.
The tiebreaker at the time was simply head-to-head, to which the San Jose Earthquakes won one and lost two. -G
Though FC Cincinnati finished the 2020 season with the league's worst record, no MLS Wooden Spoon was officially awarded due to the pandemic's changing and shortening of that season's schedule. ------------------------------------------------------- MLS Wooden Spoons won (teams in bold no longer with us) 4 - San Jose Earthquakes (1997, 2000, 2008, 2018) 3 - Chicago Fire FC (2004, 2015, 2016) 3 - D.C. United (2002, 2010, 2013) 2 - FC Cincinnati (2019, 2021) 2 - New York Red Bulls (1999, 2009) 2 - Toronto FC (2007, 2012) 1 - C.D. Chivas USA (2005) 1 - CF Montréal (2014) 1 - Colorado Rapids (1996) 1 - Columbus Crew (2006) 1 - FC Dallas (2003) 1 - Los Angeles Galaxy (2017) 1 - New England Revolution (1998) 1 - Tampa Bay Mutiny (2001) 1 - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (2011) 0 - Atlanta United FC 0 - Austin FC 0 - Houston Dynamo FC 0 - Inter Miami CF 0 - Los Angeles FC 0 - Miami Fusion F.C. 0 - Minnesota United FC 0 - Nashville FC 0 - New York City FC 0 - Orlando City SC 0 - Philadelphia Union 0 - Portland Timbers 0 - Real Salt Lake 0 - Seattle Sounders FC 0 - Sporting Kansas City
I would expect that the teams that have been around the longest might be toward the top of the table, but they're spread throughout (bold, I changed the 'not around anymore' to italics). Chicago and Miami Fusion were added not long after the start, so if you add them in, then it does kinda track that the longer you're around, the more likely it is you got a spoon. So it makes it just a little more remarkable that Cincinnati and Toronto have been so consistently bad. That said, only five of the expansion teams brought in since 2004 have been awarded the spoon. Looking over this makes me think there might be something interesting here -- how much is the original teams getting the spoon so much a result of a small league early on, and how much is it failure to keep up with a very different, expanded league? But I'm not able to really dig into that question. As I think about it, I may be seeing a pattern that's not really there. 4 - San Jose Earthquakes (1997, 2000, 2008, 2018) 3 - Chicago Fire FC (2004, 2015, 2016) 3 - D.C. United (2002, 2010, 2013) 2 - FC Cincinnati (2019, 2021) 2 - New York Red Bulls (1999, 2009) 2 - Toronto FC (2007, 2012) 1 - C.D. Chivas USA (2005) 1 - CF Montréal (2014) 1 - Colorado Rapids (1996) 1 - Columbus Crew (2006) 1 - FC Dallas (2003) 1 - Los Angeles Galaxy (2017) 1 - New England Revolution (1998) 1 - Tampa Bay Mutiny (2001) 1 - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (2011) 0 - Atlanta United FC 0 - Austin FC 0 - Houston Dynamo FC 0 - Inter Miami CF 0 - Los Angeles FC 0 - Miami Fusion F.C. 0 - Minnesota United FC 0 - Nashville FC 0 - New York City FC 0 - Orlando City SC 0 - Philadelphia Union 0 - Portland Timbers 0 - Real Salt Lake 0 - Seattle Sounders FC 0 - Sporting Kansas City
Function of one slot and more teams equals less likely to be in last place circa 2012 when there were 16 teams in the league by that point.
The Rapids are often bad, but often just as I think they are going to be historically bad, they have a little win streak. I'm amazed the Hudson coached team of a few years ago didn't win the spoon.
Though FC Cincinnati finished the 2020 season with the league's worst record, no MLS Wooden Spoon was officially awarded due to the pandemic's changing and shortening of that season's schedule. ------------------------------------------------------- MLS Wooden Spoons won (teams in bold no longer with us) 4 - D.C. United (2002, 2010, 2013, 2022) 4 - San Jose Earthquakes (1997, 2000, 2008, 2018) 3 - Chicago Fire FC (2004, 2015, 2016) 2 - FC Cincinnati (2019, 2021) 2 - New York Red Bulls (1999, 2009) 2 - Toronto FC (2007, 2012) 1 - C.D. Chivas USA (2005) 1 - CF Montréal (2014) 1 - Colorado Rapids (1996) 1 - Columbus Crew (2006) 1 - FC Dallas (2003) 1 - Los Angeles Galaxy (2017) 1 - New England Revolution (1998) 1 - Tampa Bay Mutiny (2001) 1 - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (2011) 0 - Atlanta United FC 0 - Austin FC 0 - Charlotte FC 0 - Houston Dynamo FC 0 - Inter Miami CF 0 - Los Angeles FC 0 - Miami Fusion F.C. 0 - Minnesota United FC 0 - Nashville FC 0 - New York City FC 0 - Orlando City SC 0 - Philadelphia Union 0 - Portland Timbers 0 - Real Salt Lake 0 - Seattle Sounders FC 0 - Sporting Kansas City