Chicago White Sox Set Modern-Era Record for Most Losses in a Season
The Chicago White Sox now have 121 losses on the season to put their record for the 2024 season at 39-121. After their 4-1 loss to the Tigers, they officially have the worst record of the Modern Era and the second-worst record of all time behind the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who were 20-124. They broke the 120-loss tie with the 1962 New York Mets, who finished that season 40-120. This will be the first time in franchise history that the organization has had back-to-back seasons of losing 100+ games.
Since the start of the 2024 season, the White Sox have been considered one of the bottom three teams in the MLB. However, as their struggles grew, they quickly became the front-runner for the worst team in the league. Right around late July and early August, the team hit a horrendous 21-game losing streak, which tied for the sixth-longest of all time. This is coming right after another 100+ loss season in 2023, where they went 61-101 to finish the year. As a team, the White Sox rank last in almost every offensive category including batting average, runs, hits, home runs, RBI, OBP, and OPS. Their best hitter, Andrew Vaughn, is hitting just .246 with a .708 OPS and 19 home runs. All of these would rank him right around the league average if not worse than the league average. The next closest is Andrew Benintendi, who is significantly lower in all categories except for home runs. As a pitching staff, they are collectively a lot better regarding stats. They place much closer to league average numbers and rank closer to the middle of the league as a team. The numbers are a little skewed due to Garrett Crochet being one of the top arms in baseball, but they still are less concerning than the offense.
The question for the White Sox is where did everything go so wrong? Just two seasons ago they were 81-81 and ranked second in the AL Central and three seasons ago they won the division with a 93-69 record. Unfortunately, their star players just stopped performing or left for somewhere else. Guys like Yasmani Grandal and Yoán Moncada were putting up numbers above league average and Tim Anderson was hitting over .300 still. They also had José Abreu and Luis Robert Jr. putting up MVP-type numbers. The pitching staff looked incredible with guys like Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, and Carlos Rodón all hitting their primes right around the same time. Most of these offensive guys are struggling to keep an MLB job while all of those arms found themselves with new clubs. Luis Robert Jr. is the only key piece left on the team to this day, but unfortunately, his young career has been riddled with injuries.
For the White Sox, it is extremely concerning considering how much talent they had and how quickly it vanished. It is especially worrying after their General Manager said they don’t plan on spending a lot in free agency, even though their payroll is already one of the lowest in the league. They do have one of the stronger farm systems in baseball in terms of talent, but whether or not those players can be called up and perform on the big stage is the biggest question mark. Unfortunately for White Sox fans, it does not look to be any better any time soon.
