As of August 4, 2024, the Chicago White Sox have the worst record in Major League Baseball at 27-87, with a 23.7% win percentage.
On May 15, 2024, the Chicago White Sox achieved a 31.8% win percentage based on a 14-30 win-loss record, currently their highest mark. With the White Sox matching this and exceeding by one game, they could potentially finish optimistically with a 52-110 record.
Since May 15, the White Sox’ performance has been 13-57, an abysmal 18.6% win rate that rivals the Cleveland Spiders’ 1899 campaign for sucktitude.
The records for losses in the modern era are as follows:
<162 games: 1962 New York Mets, 120 losses
162 games: 2003 Detroit Tigers, 119 losses
This market resolves YES if the Chicago White Sox lose 121 or more games by the conclusion of the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season.
Edit: Resolves NO if the Chicago White Sox win 42 games, ensuring their loss total cannot exceed 120.
Well, the streak did not extend to 4 games.
So, 10 games left in the season. The White Sox need to win 6 to make this market resolve NO. The schedule runs:
1 game against the Angels, who are the second-worst team in the American League. That's still much better than the White Sox this year, but it means this late in the season they have nothing in particular to play for except, maybe, avoiding the infamy of 100 losses.
3 games against the Padres, who are in good shape to be the #1 NL wild card, and from that position are about equally unlikely to either win their division or fail to make the playoffs. They might be on cruise control, but they're a much better team than the White Sox.
3 more games against the Angels.
3 games against the Tigers, who are currently 1.5 games back from an AL wild card spot, and so could still be in wild card contention come those last three games of the season.
September 6, 2024 - we marvel at the history unfolding before us, as the Chicago White Sox enter the weekend with a 32-109 record. With 21 games to go, the team’s current projected final record is 37-125, which would eclipse both the 1962 Mets and 2003 Tigers for the worst. baseball team. ever. (Except the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, but we know their story.)
To further demonstrate how historically bad this team is, consider that the other four teams in the AL Central are at least one game over .500. The entire AL Central division, with only the White Sox posting a losing record, is 33 games under .500.
August 29, 2024 - I'm logging this now because it's relevant to see just how historically bad these wonderful White Sox stand before the beginning of September. I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing this Saturday, so I wanted to provide the 'end-of-month' update now.
At the end of August in the years of our lord 1962 and 2003, respectively, here are the competitors of modern history that the Chicago White Sox are chasing:
New York Mets - Before a crowd of 11,000+ on August 31, 1962, the Mets dropped the series opener in St. Louis to the Cardinals 4-2 to extend their active losing streak to 4 games. They would finish August with a record of 34-102.
Detroit Tigers - A modest attendance of nearly 16,000 in Comerica Park saw, coincidentally, the Chicago White Sox close a series in Detroit on August 31, 2003, with a 6-1 series clincher to send the Tigers to a 34-101 record on the season.
Before their game to finish a home series against the Texas Rangers on 8/29/2024, the 2024 Chicago White Sox stand at 31-103, which is 2 games behind the 1962 Mets and 2.5 games behind the 2003 Tigers.
We are witnessing history, people!
August 25, 2024 - The futility continues as the Chicago White Sox drop a home division match to the Detroit Tigers 9-4. This is their 100th regular season loss for the 2024 season, and if they maintain their current pace, their final record for the year will be 39-123, the worst in modern MLB history.
This date in history among the White Sox’ futile contemporaries:
August 20, 1962: the inaugural year of the New York Mets was a rough one. This Monday saw the young team drop both games of a doubleheader to the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates, to finish the day with a 30-94 record on the season and extend their current losing streak to 12 games.
August 20, 2003: the Detroit Tigers hosted the Texas Rangers for the final game of a 3-game set, which the Tigers all lost with the third of these games being a home shutout 6-0, with the Rangers fueled by homeruns from the $252 million dollar shortstop Alex Rodriguez and a young Hank Blalock. This would put the Tigers at 31-94 on the season and extend their active losing streak to 8 games.
If the Chicago White Sox, whose record stands at 30-96 going into their game at San Francisco tonight, drop their game to the Giants, their 30-97 record would be 1.5 games ahead of the 1962 Mets and 2 games ahead of the 2003 Tigers, with a pace to finish with a record of 38-123. THEY CAN DO THIS!!!