With just one week remaining in the 2024 Major League Baseball season, the Chicago White Sox are on the brink of setting an ignominious record. At 36-120, they have already matched the 1962 New York Mets' notorious tally of 120 losses. The prospect of one more defeat would push them beyond the Mets' infamy, cementing their place in the wrong kind of history books.
The White Sox's offensive struggles have been a glaring issue throughout the season. Their team slash line of .220/.278/.339 pales in comparison to the league-average of .244/.312/.400. An OPS+ of 76 underscores just how ineffectual the Chicago batters have been, sitting 24% below the league average in terms of on-base and slugging abilities. The team has only managed to hit 127 home runs, ranking dead last in the league, with no individual player even reaching the 20-home run mark. The lack of power hitting has reflected in their average of a mere 3.07 runs per game, the lowest in the league—considerably lower than the Tampa Bay Rays, who rank 29th at 3.78 runs per game.
Defensively, the White Sox have been equally poor. They lead the league in negative total zone runs with -83, a staggering difference compared to the Brewers and Mariners, who both sit at the top with 46. By contrast, the Marlins, who rank 29th in this defensive metric, are only at -53, highlighting just how defensive lapses have compounded the White Sox's woes.
Leadership on the mound hasn’t fared much better. Erick Fedde, the team's leader in Wins Above Replacement (WAR), hasn’t pitched since July 27. As a collective, the White Sox's WAR stands at a dismal -6.8, making them the solitary team in the league with a negative figure. For comparison, the Rockies, who rank 29th in WAR, have a positive 4.1. The team's overall performance is reflected in their road and home records, 16-62 and 20-58 respectively—both the worst in the league. Before this season, the White Sox had never lost more than 55 road games or 53 home games in a single season.
Their season has been punctuated by protracted slumps, including lengthy losing streaks of 21, 14, and 12 games. They've also suffered additional losing streaks of seven, six, and two stints of five, one of which is still ongoing. Before this season, the White Sox had endured losing streaks of 12 games or more just three times in their long history: 1924, 1927, and 1967.
Post All-Star break, the White Sox's record stands at an abysmal 9-49. Historically, no team has ever won fewer than 15 games in a full second half. This unwanted benchmark was previously held by the Athletics, who went 15-61 in both 1915 and 1943. The White Sox's best months in this season were May and June, with records of 9-19. Their worst was July, in which they stumbled to a 3-22 record.
There have been few bright spots in their calamitous season. Andrew Vaughn leads the team in both RBIs and runs, with 67 and 54 respectively, although this performance ranks him 103rd out of 130 qualifying players in OPS for the batting title. The White Sox managed winning records against only five teams: the Braves (2-1), Rockies (2-1), Cardinals (2-1), Rays (4-2), and Nationals (2-1). On the contrary, against their AL Central counterparts, the White Sox are a desolate 12-41.
In the annals of Major League Baseball, the 2024 season will stand as the single worst in Chicago White Sox history. As they head into their final six games, the looming prospect of setting a new low will haunt a franchise that has seen better days.