Chicago White Sox -- Worst team in modern times?

[bk400]

I was more focused on the NL East, but couldn't help but read about the White Sox in recent days. Wow. Would be great to hear from the numbers experts on the forum about whether the White Sox are really as historically awful as the press makes them out to be. I quickly looked at ESPN, and it appears that their best team statistic ranks them 22nd in the league -- that's for quality pitching starts. The guy with the highest batting average is hitting .244. Highest hitting WAR in the team is 0.6.

[Cliff Bowman]

Of modern times? They are going to be the worst MLB team since the Cleveland Spiders went 20-134 in 1899. ETA the 1916 Philadelphia A’s went 36-117 for a winning pct. of .235, the White Sox would have to surge to avoid that pct. but they do have games left with the Angels and Oakland.

[packs]

A reflection of horrible scouting. All of the home grown or international free agents they signed / drafted that are on the team are terrible. All of the players they traded for or signed as free agents are also terrible. There isn't a single passable player on the team except Crochet and they refused to trade him. But even if they did trade him, they probably would have wound up with another failed prospect like the ones they drafted or traded for previously.

Andrew Vaughn was the 3rd overall pick in 2019. He has a WAR of -0.3 this season.
Gavin Sheets was a 2nd round pick in 2017. Good for -0.6 WAR this season.
Lenyn Sosa was an international free agent. Good for -1.8 WAR.

They spent 17 million dollars on Andrew Benintendi and his -1.4 WAR.

[orioles70]

I am an Orioles fan since 1969 and have been thru both very good times and very bad times. The Orioles beat the White Sox yesterday 13-3 to make them 31-108 on the season.

So just how bad are the White Sox?
I have been following their miserable season since the All-Star break and will put it in perspective as an Oriole fan.
Oriole fans certainly remember the 1988 season when they started 0-21!
Well, even after that record setting pitiful start the Orioles would be 18 games ahead (49-90) of this White Sox team thru 139 games!! And the Orioles play in arguably the toughest division in baseball. This White Sox team has 23 games remaining...it would take a season ending 23 game win streak for them to equal the 54 wins of the 1988 Orioles...the team that started 0-21. Yes, this White Sox team is bad...really, really bad...and is likely the worst team since the start of World Series play in 1903.
Now that I have said that the Sox will probably beat the O's in the next 2 games.

And let's not forget the White Sox made the playoffs just 3 years ago by winning the AL Central with 93 wins under Tony La Russa...this team got bad really fast.

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[Mark17]

If they go 10-11 their last 21 games, they'll finish higher than the 1962 Mets.

[clydepepper]

Let's dig up the Spiders and let them have a go!


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[Mike D.]

Of note with the Mets loss record is the fact that the Mets were an expansion team that year....cobbled together with scraps made available in the expansion draft by other teams. The White Sox built this team on purpose.

[orioles70]

O's just beat White Sox 9-0; Sox are now 31-109 with 22 games left

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[orioles70]

Sox remaining 22 games are against:
1@Orioles
3@Red Sox
3 w/Guardians
3 w/A's
3@Angels
3@Padres
3 w/ Angels
3@Tigers

Looks like the Mets loss record will be broken unless the White Sox really beat up on the A's and Angels in those 9 games

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[Casey2296]

That's rough, my guess is an ownership down problem and not enough true baseball folks in the system.
Maybe Manfred can provide Hospice for the remainder of the season.

[Peter_Spaeth]

What happened to Luis Robert, one of the darlings of the "bro" crowd?

[orioles70]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

What happened to Luis Robert, one of the darlings of the "bro" crowd?

In 80 games he is batting .219 with 116 K's and only 23 walks.

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[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by orioles70

In 80 games he is batting .219 with 116 K's and only 23 walks.

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He was a stud for Cuba, and then in the minors, but these guys with horrible walk to strikeout ratios might have a decent season here and there, but for the most part they "get figured out" eventually in major league ball, and they seem to regress, the longer their career goes on.

[frankbmd]

With six games remaining against the Angels I expect the Sox winning percentage to improve before the end of the season.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

He was a stud for Cuba, and then in the minors, but these guys with horrible walk to strikeout ratios might have a decent season here and there, but for the most part they "get figured out" eventually in major league ball, and they seem to regress, the longer their career goes on.

Agreed. There are very few hitters with the talent to consistently hit pitches out of the strike zone. If a guy can't learn to lay off those pitches, it very likely is not going to work out well.

[jayshum]

White Sox up to 32 wins after beating Baltimore 8-1 to snap a 12 game losing streak.

[clydepepper]

Let's start a vote on how many losses they end up with...



I'll be the first to go...they surprise everyone and win out the remaining schedule!


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[Cliff Bowman]

I'm hoping they win no more than 35 to win less than the 1916 Philadelphia A's but I think they will surpass that with nine games left with the Angels and the A's, I will guess they finish 38-124.

[orioles70]

Sox are now 32-110 with 20 games to play. They have to win half of them to avoid breaking the 120 loss season record of the Mets.

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[orioles70]

Sox are now an unbelievable 80 games under .500 at 33-113!!
So even if they go 8-8 in their final 16 games they will still pass the '62 Mets record of 120 losses.

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[jayshum]

White Sox already lost today so now 33-114.

[packs]

Would be a cool project to collect all 33 win tickets but I don't know how many teams still have physical tickets.

[orioles70]

The Sox have to go 10-5 in their final 5 3-game series to avoid a record loss season...the last time they won 2 out of 3 games to win a series was at home at the end of June vs the Rockies...and the ONLY time this year they won 2 out of 3 to win a series on the road was in May vs the Cardinals...winning 40 games seems impossible at this point

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[jayshum]

White Sox blew a 6-3 lead in the top of the 9th then scored in the bottom of the inning for win number 35. Their record is now 34-115.

[jayshum]

White Sox are hot - a 2 game winning streak to get to 35-115. Still some work to do to avoid breaking the 62 Mets record.

[jayshum]

Break up the White Sox. A 3 game winning streak has them at 36-115 with 11 games to go.

[bk400]

Ok, I'll have some fun with it. I'm going to predict that the White Sox finish 43-119. Let's go White Sox!!

[orioles70]

After winning 3 in a row the Sox lost and are back to 80 games under .500 at 36-116. They have 10 games left with 7 of those on the road and 6 of those vs Padres and Tigers. That 3 game win streak just might get them to 40 wins but the loss record still seems impossible to avoid.

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[jayshum]

2 losses in a row so now 36-117.

[jayshum]

36-118 after a third straight loss. Now need to go 7-1 to avoid tying the Mets 120 losses. I'm guessing they haven't had any 7-1 stretches during this season so far.

[jayshum]

36-119

[bk400]

Tied.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by bk400

Tied.

Yes, 36-120 to tie for most losses with 6 more to play.

[KJA]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Yes, 36-120 to tie for most losses with 6 more to play.

If they keep the win total under 39 they break the record for lowest win percentage set by the 1916 A's.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by KJA

If they keep the win total under 39 they break the record for lowest win percentage set by the 1916 A's.

They're home for 3 against the Angels then on the road for 3 against the Tigers. If they need to go 3-3 to avoid that record, it seems like their chances aren't good.

[bk400]

The White Sox are showing some fight! 0-0 in the 6th.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by bk400

The White Sox are showing some fight! 0-0 in the 6th.

They pulled out a 3-2 win for number 37 to go with their 120 losses.

[waxman27]

2 wins in a row to make it to 38-120. The 1962 Mets record still stands for now.

[Eric72]

I don't know, you guys might be underrating the White Sox.

They've won three in a row and their team stats really aren't that bad. Think about it. Everyone went nuts over Ohtani's 50/50 season. Big deal. The White Sox have 88 steals and 129 home runs!

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by waxman27

2 wins in a row to make it to 38-120. The 1962 Mets record still stands for now.

So the Chicago White Sox are 39-120 heading into the last weekend of the season. The White Sox therefore need at least two victories to better the .250 record of the 1962 New York Mets. But they'll be playing the hungry and surging Detroit Tigers in a three game series so there's a very good chance they'll be able to lower the Mets' mark. Not that I hate the White Sox, but them's the facts.

[KJA]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

So the Chicago White Sox are 39-120 heading into the last weekend of the season. The White Sox therefore need at least two victories to better the .250 record of the 1962 New York Mets. But they'll be playing the hungry and surging Detroit Tigers in a three game series so there's a very good chance they'll be able to lower the Mets' mark. Not that I hate the White Sox, but them's the facts.

With their 39th win I think they are safe from having a lower win percentage than the 1916 A's at least. But no way do they not pass the Met's loss mark. Tigers should be playing extra hard, it's one thing it would suck for them if they lost their playoff spot to one of the worst teams ever.

[jayshum]

Loss 121 is in the books. 39-121 with 2 games to go against the Tigers.

[jayshum]

Finished hot with 2 wins against Detroit to finish at 41-121. More losses than the 62 Mets but slightly better winning percentage.

[Balticfox]

So the Detroit Tigers had a chance to help the Chicago White Sox make history, but they didn't get the job done. Very sad.

[Beercan collector]

At least they can be proud of the all time most losses in a season ,
List of some teams with similar seasons :
2024 White Sox 41-121 .253 .. 51.5 GB
1899 Spiders 20-134 .130 .. 84 GB
1909 Boston 45-108 .294 .. 65.5 GB
1916 Phil. 36-117 .235 .. 54.5 GB
1935 Boston 38-115 .248 .. 61.5 GB
1962 Mets 40-120 .250 .. 60.5 GB
2018 Orioles 47-115 .290 .. 61 GB

[Balticfox]

So had the Tigers co-operated by doing their part (winning the season ending series), the White Sox would have proudly been able to lay claim to the worst record since 1916 (thus post Great War).