White Sox Set Historic Mark With 20th Consecutive Loss, Could It Continue to Get Worse?

The Chicago White Sox lost to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon by a score of 13-7. However, this was not just any dog days of summer loss; this defeat marked the White Sox's 20th consecutive loss, making them the first team since the 1988 Orioles to reach 20 straight losses in one season. This sweep marks the sixth consecutive series they have been swept and the ninth straight series they have lost. The last time they won a game was on July 10th, and the last time they won a series was at the end of June. That was a very brutal opening paragraph, and I am sorry to all the White Sox fans, but what has gone wrong for this team to become this historically bad? The answer: just about everything. 

For starters, the roster coming into the season was far from exciting. People expected them not to be a playoff team, but no one could have expected this kind of season. The offense has been nonexistent for the whole season up to this point, which is kind of ironic considering their 12 hits and seven runs today. But the White Sox rank dead last in the league in runs, hits, average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. They also rank second to last in home runs. As some might assume, it is pretty challenging to win baseball games that way. On the other side of the ball, the pitching has not been much better other than All-Star Garrett Crochet. The pitching staff ranks second to last in ERA (earned runs average), WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched), runs allowed, and home runs allowed. To top it off, their defensive fielding ranking is also near the bottom of the league, at 26th. 

So, clearly, nothing has gone right on the field, but off the field has been extremely underwhelming as well. The manager, Pedro Grifol, who is in his second year managing the club, will most likely be fired in the offseason if he even makes it through the season. He seems to have lost the respect of the players and coaches in the clubhouse, and if a team can not rally behind their manager, there will be various examples of lackluster effort, which has been the case for the White Sox all season. Veteran catcher Martin Maldanado refused to run out a routine ground ball back in spring training, and more recently, one of the lone stars on the team, Luis Robert, did not even attempt to throw out the winning run at home plate on a sacrifice fly. These are just a few examples of what can occur on the field when a team does not fully respect their manager off the field. Lastly, the underwhelming trade deadline was the nail in the coffin for the 2024 White Sox season. Many experts believed the White Sox would be the primary seller at the deadline, with multiple intriguing pieces to be moved. However, they did not even trade their two most prominent pieces, Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert. The one big trade they did make involved sending Tommy Pham and Erick Fedde to the Cardinals and Michael Kopech to the Dodgers in a three-team deal. However, their return was just three minor league prospects from the Dodgers, and none of them were in the top ten of the Dodgers farm system. 

Overall, the 2024 White Sox season has been one to forget for White Sox fans. However, if they keep this losing streak going, this season could be talked about for a long time because of the history they are making. They are the fastest team to reach 60 games below the .500 mark since the Cleveland Spiders in 1899, who went 60 games under on August 1. The record for most consecutive losses in a season since 1900 is 23, set by the 1961 Phillies. If the White Sox get swept by the Athletics in their next series, they would be in danger of a record-setting 24th straight loss against their crosstown rival Chicago Cubs later this week.