The Chicago White Sox Are Even Worse Than You Thought

The White Sox have lost 20 games in a row, and that doesn't tell the whole story

Jul 31, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox outfielder Dominic Fletcher (7) cannot catch a ball hit for a double hit by Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez (not pictured) during the fifth inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago White Sox have the worst record in Major League Baseball and are in the midst of a 20-game losing streak. That sounds bad, but somehow the Southsiders are far worse than that description would tell you.

Chicago's 20 consecutive losses are one short of the American League record, set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1988. The MLB record since 1900 is 23 straight, set by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961. Both marks are in reach for this horrendous club, which hasn't won a game since July 10, and it's worth noting that victory followed a three-game losing streak.

This isn't the team's only major stretch of futility in 2024. From May 2 through June 6, the Chicago lost 14 straight games. That means in two long stretches combined they've gone 0-34.

The White Sox enter Monday's matchup against the Oakland A's with a record of 27-87, 60 games under the .500 mark. But that's not the worst part of this story. As others have pointed out, even if you wiped away the 14 and 20-game losing streaks, the Sox would be 27-53. That would give them a winning percentage of .338, which would still be the worst in baseball. The next closest team would be the Colorado Rockies at .363.

This team is so bad that former White Sox manager and current analyst Ozzie Guillen claims he has started going to therapy.

After clarifying that Pedro Grifol is 100 games under .500 as White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillén explains, as only Ozzie can, how he reacted when Grifol was hired over him. pic.twitter.com/XKeCnFvOx9

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 4, 2024

As Guillen pointed out, current Sox manager Pedro Grifol is not 88-188 in his time in charge of the team. The White Sox went 61-101 under Grifol in 2023 and, as noted, are 27-87 this year. So he's 100 games under .500 as a manager.

Yikes.

The White Sox will not finish the season with the worst record in MLB history. That distinction goes to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who went 20-134. In the Modern Era, the record for futility belongs to the Philadelphia A's, who went 36-117. The general benchmark used for bad teams today is the 1962 New York Mets, who went 40-120 in their expansion season.

No one should put it past this White Sox team to challenge that mark.