With just one week remaining in the 2024 Major League Baseball season, the Chicago White Sox are on the brink of infamy. At 36-120, they have tied the notorious 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in modern baseball history, with six games left to potentially set a new record.
The White Sox's struggles are glaringly apparent in their subpar stats. Their team batting average stands at .220/.278/.339, significantly below the league-average slash line of .244/.312/.400. With a meager 76 OPS+, indicating they are 24% worse than the league average in terms of getting on base and hitting for power, the offensive woes are transparent. Furthermore, their total of 127 home runs is the lowest in the league, and not a single player has hit the 20-home run mark.
Offensively, the team has averaged just 3.07 runs per game, the lowest in the league. For comparison, the Tampa Bay Rays, who rank 29th in runs per game, average 3.78 runs. The run differential tells a painful story: the White Sox have been outscored 799-479, resulting in a staggering -320 run differential.
Andrew Vaughn has led the team in both RBIs and runs with 67 and 54, respectively. However, his performance places him 103rd out of 130 qualifying players in OPS for the batting title, underlining the team's struggles at the plate.
Defensively, the White Sox have been the league's worst, posting -83 total zone runs. For context, the 29th-ranked Miami Marlins have -53 total zone runs while the Brewers and Mariners share the top spot with 46.
The pitching has not fared much better. Erick Fedde, the team's WAR leader, hasn't pitched since July 27, and the collective performance in FanGraphs' version of WAR is a dismal -6.8, making them the sole team with a negative figure. The Rockies, who are 29th, still manage a positive 4.1 WAR.
On the road, the White Sox hold the league’s worst record at 16-62, with the Rockies having the next fewest road wins at 24. At home, the White Sox are similarly poor with a 20-58 record; the Marlins are next with 30-51. This season has set new lows for the franchise, which had never previously lost more than 55 road games or 53 home games in a single season.
Lengthy losing streaks have also plagued the team. They endured three major slumps of 21, 14, and 12 consecutive losses. Additional streaks of seven, six, and two instances of five losses each add to their season’s misery, with one five-game losing streak still ongoing. Before 2024, the franchise had suffered losing streaks of 12 games or more only three times in its history: in 1924, 1927, and 1967.
Since the All-Star break, the White Sox are a dismal 9-49. No team has ever won fewer than 15 games in a full second half, a dubious record held by the A's, who went 15-61 in both 1915 and 1943. Considering their current pace, the White Sox threaten to shatter this unfortunate milestone.
Their best months came in May and June, where they posted identical 9-19 records. July was their worst month, with a staggering 3-22 result.
Finding wins has been like hunting for a needle in a haystack. They managed winning records against just five teams all season: the Braves (2-1), Rockies (2-1), Cardinals (2-1), Rays (4-2), and Nationals (2-1). However, against their AL Central division rivals, they recorded a dismal 12-41 record.
The White Sox’s 2024 campaign stands as their worst in Major League Baseball history, capturing the depth of their challenges and the extent of their struggles. The once-proud franchise now faces the inevitability of rewriting the record books for all the wrong reasons, as they inch closer to a historic low point in professional baseball.