The Chicago White Sox enter play on Friday evening in opposition to the Minnesota Twins using a 17-game shedding streak and have but to win a single sport within the second half of the 2024 season (0-14 because the All-Star break). Going in opposition to one of many prime American League playoff contenders for a weekend sequence after buying and selling a number of of the highest gamers off of its roster previous to Tuesday’s commerce deadline isn’t probably to assist issues for them.
This shedding streak has not solely been a chore for White Sox followers to look at, it has additionally put the group on a tempo to set a brand new document for futility within the fashionable baseball period.
With a 27-84 document on Friday, the White Sox’ .243 successful share would put them on a tempo for 123 losses over a full 162-game season. In the event that they preserve that tempo, that might set the modern-era document (since 1900) for many losses in a season. The document is presently owned by the enlargement 1962 New York Mets, a membership which misplaced 120 video games. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders misplaced 134 video games, however simply missed fashionable period cut-off.
With that context in thoughts, the White Sox are quickly approaching practically uncharted territories for shedding. The one current groups that has even come near this stage of futility had been the 2003 Detroit Tigers (119 losses), the 2018 Baltimore Orioles (115 losses) and the 2019 Tigers (114 losses).
No matter whether or not the White Sox really set the trendy document for losses, this has been a stunningly dangerous season for the franchise. It’s fairly doable Chicago reaches 90 losses earlier than successful their thirtieth sport. They’ve already clinched a shedding season (82 losses) earlier than the beginning of August. They’ve 14 extra losses than the league’s subsequent worst group (the Colorado Rockies have dropped 70 video games).
After taking part in three video games in Minnesota, the White Sox will play three video games in Oakland in opposition to an A’s group that can be close to the underside of the league standings. Which may characterize their subsequent greatest probability to select up a few wins. If they don’t get them there, this season might actually begin to flip into a multitude.
It was solely a few years in the past that the White Sox appeared like an on-the-rise group with some promising younger expertise. They made back-to-back playoff appearances in 2020 and 2021, reaching the ALDS through the latter season. They then misplaced 81 and 101 video games, respectively, within the seasons that adopted. And now, the White Sox are on tempo to lose extra video games than any group within the fashionable period.
