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Chicago White Sox set an MLB record with their 121st loss of the 2024 season

Chicago White Sox set an MLB record with their 121st loss of the 2024 season

Vaseline 1 week ago

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The Chicago White Sox have officially become the kings of futility in Major League Baseball.

With their 121st loss of the season, the White Sox now stand alone as the losingest team in modern baseball history.

The record breaker came in a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

White Sox ace Garrett Crochet kept the Tigers in check for four innings, but the dam finally broke in the fifth inning after being lifted. Detroit got to reliever Jared Shuster and hit two to break a scoreless tie, and that was enough (although the Tigers added two more runs for good measure in the seventh). Zach DeLoach’s solo home run in the sixth was the only run the White Sox could muster.

The loss breaks a tie with the 1962 New York Mets, who finished their first season with a 40-120 record, prompting manager Casey Stengel to complain, “Can’t nobody play this game here?”

The same question could also be asked of the 2024 White Sox.

Chicago (39-121) has lost 21, 14 and 12 games this season, with the longest streak leading to the firing of manager Pedro Grifol in early August.

Avoiding baseball infamy wasn’t part of the White Sox’ plan either, as they dealt pitchers Erick Fedde and Michael Kopech and outfielders Eloy Jimenez and Tommy Pham just before the July 30 trade deadline, further hurting the team on the field weakened.

Entering Friday’s game, the White Sox ranked last in the majors in scoring (3.1 runs per game), batting average (.221), on-base percentage (.279) and slugging (.340) . Their pitchers also have the highest team ERA in the American League (4.71), trailing only the Miami Marlins (4.77) and Colorado Rockies (5.40) for worst in the Majors.

While the White Sox were licking their wounds Friday night, the Tigers were celebrating a better kind of history: they secured their first playoff berth in a decade. Bad news for the White Sox? They have two more games this weekend to add to their losing record.

The one team the White Sox won’t surpass, however, is the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who posted a 20-134 record, for a “winning” percentage of .130.

Contributors: Jace Evans