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So many ways to describe how horrible this White Sox team is

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* Steve Greenberg yesterday

Baseball has had 162-game schedules since 1961. In all the time since, not a single other team has gotten to 82 losses as fast as the sad-sack Sox.

There are untold ways to illustrate just how abysmal the Sox have been, but here’s a personal favorite. First, take their disgraceful 3-22 start to the season, which included separate losing streaks of four, five, six and seven games. Next, add their 14-game losing streak from late May to early June, which tied a single-season franchise record. Now, throw in their current 15-game losing streak — hey! It’s a record! — going into Tuesday night’s game, tally it all up and you get 3-51. But even if you were to wipe away all 51 of those losses, guess what? These Sox would still have more “Ls” (30) than “Ws” (27).

The worst Sox team ever, by winning percentage, went 49-102-1 (.325) in 1932. The worst Cubs teams went 59-103 (.364) each in 1962 and 1966. These Sox are at a previously unthinkable .247, which makes them not only the shoddiest baseball team in the city’s major league history — which began in 1876 — but the shoddiest by miles. It’s undebatable.

* The White Sox ended up losing yesterday, of course

The blown saves are at 28. The losing streak is 16, extending a franchise record.

With the Royals’ 4-3 come from behind victory Tuesday before a paid crowd of 15,360, the Sox fell to 27-83, on pace to break the 1962 Mets (40-120) record for most losses in a season. […]

The Sox bullpen is 0-11 with a 6.37 ERA in the last 24 games. […]

The Sox, who are 8-23 in one-run games, have lost 19 of their last 20 games and are the third team to lose 83-plus games in their first 110 contests.

Part of me hopes they break the Mets’ loss record to make absolutely sure that all the people involved with running this team are permanently stained with shame.

Your thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 11:45 am

Comments

  1. The genius of Pedro Grifol yesterday putting in a rookie making his MLB debut with a 2-1 lead in the midst of a 15 game losing streak was on full display last night…

    Comment by ThePAMan Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 11:50 am

  2. It’s past being embarrassing in every way and Riensdorf doesn’t care. I’m not sure who’s advising him but this isn’t the way to get a new stadium built.

    Comment by Long Time Independent Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 11:50 am

  3. I hope they fire Pedro and play .500 baseball over the last 52 games. They are not a talentless team (you have to be winning games to blow leads), and I do think the players deserve to be “stained with shame.”

    Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 11:51 am

  4. Obviously, a new stadium would fix this.

    Comment by Give Us Barabbas Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 11:52 am

  5. The longest losing streak in MLB history is 26, so still a ways to go. But I believe in them.

    Comment by ChicagoVinny Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 11:52 am

  6. If you’re going to be bad, it’s best to be historically bad. Go Sox Go (banned punctuation)

    Comment by ChicagoBars Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 11:57 am

  7. I made the fortuitous decision back in march to not watch a single sox game this season. This team has made it very very easy to stick to that pledge.

    Comment by Benniefly2 Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:01 pm

  8. If I honestly didn’t know any better, I would guess that Reinsdorf was purposefully putting a bad product on the field to drive down interest and facilitate a relocation to a different city.

    But I know better. He and his drinking buddies/yes men are just absolutely incompetent. If they were intentionally tanking, they’d probably be only a game out of the wild card on accident somehow.

    Comment by TJ Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:07 pm

  9. === The blown saves are at 28.===

    Those games have been great to bet on against the Sox. They go up a few runs, the sports book gives you decent odds and then they blow the game. It’s worked out great so far this year. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough last night and they blew the lead before I got my bet in.

    Comment by Been There Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:10 pm

  10. This has been a summer of no sports for me. I have never not watched baseball during on summer evenings ever. Going back to the days when the Sox were broadcast on channel 44 and you had to be a bit of a antennae magician to get a game on if you lived outside of the city. I mean, I watched 1970’s Sox games when the picture on my color TV was green because the signal was so bad. I have watched less than a full inning (total watching time) this year.

    I want to go to a game so badly since tickets are so cheap but I just cannot.

    So I hope they break all of the losing records and the current ownership and management changes. I love Jerry for bringing us the 2005 season, even if it was somewhat lucky, but he has to sell.

    The last three seasons have broken my Sox fan heart.

    Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:10 pm

  11. The lobbyists he hired in Springfield to kill the Bears stadium did a good job. Maybe he should have them run the ball club ..

    Comment by NotRich Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:13 pm

  12. == The lobbyists he hired in Springfield to kill the Bears stadium did a good job. Maybe he should have them run the ball club .. ==

    They couldn’t kill what was already dead.

    Comment by TJ Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:14 pm

  13. The last time we hey won a game Biden was still running for President. They also have not won a game in Monday this year. Of course they don’t do much better the other days either

    Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:16 pm

  14. ===They couldn’t kill what was already dead.===

    Maybe he thought the Bears Stadium was actually Dracula?

    Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:17 pm

  15. If ever a MLB team deserved to be relegated to the minors it’s the White Sox.

    Send the whole Sox organization down to Double-A and let the Barons play ball on the Southside.

    – MrJM

    Comment by @misterjayem Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:19 pm

  16. Saddest part is, it looks like Reinsdorf has no intention of selling.

    Comment by James the Intolerant Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:43 pm

  17. I haven’t really watched or followed baseball in decades but lately I’ve been checking in on White Sox scores. It’s like a train wreck. It’s hideous but I can’t stop looking at it.

    Comment by Proud Papa Bear Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:46 pm

  18. I am rooting for them to lose, too. Reinsdorf has earned distinction of having the worst team in history as part of his legacy.

    Comment by Phil T. Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:50 pm

  19. As a non-baseball fan, I’m looking forward to the Sox asking for more state money for a cushy new stadium deal.

    Comment by Homebody Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:51 pm

  20. Fedde, Robert and Crochet had a cumulative Wins Above Replacement of 10.0.

    The teams as a whole (including those 3) had a cumulative WAR of 4.2. Having 22 players on your roster with a total WAR of negative 5.8 has got to be historically bad.

    Comment by Juice Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 12:52 pm

  21. I suffered through Sunday’s game. I felt bad for the pitcher (Crochet) as his infielders were kicking the ball and he got tagged for some unearned runs. Some of the White Sox players have seemed to have checked out mentally. They owe it to the few fans in attendance to put forth some effort. Sadly, some of the athletes are barely phoning it in.

    Comment by Gravitas Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:15 pm

  22. It is probably better to watch the documentary or the companion book “Last Comiskey” than to suffer through watching another 2024 game. The 1990 White Sox team was much more entertaining.

    Comment by Gravitas Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:19 pm

  23. The Tuesday game wasn’t bad till the starter was lifted. Then poof. Seems like they find new ways every nite

    Comment by Annonin' Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:25 pm

  24. if you look at the record you see how many losses might have been wins IF the bullpen was even decent. it must be very frustrating to be a starting pitcher there. Robert, what the what? apparently Eloy and Yoan could not be bothered to do what they were told in rehab. gonna be interesting for Eloy at Baltimore. still love the Sox. terrible ownership except worse politics on the northside.

    Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:33 pm

  25. There’s a joke Twitter post from April 13th proclaiming the Sox have been mathematically eliminated from the postseason.

    Currently, 33 Games out of a playoff spot with 51 games left in the season.

    If my math is right, and it probably isn’t, they would be mathematically eliminated as soon as Saturday August 10th.

    Oh wow, and I just noticed who they will be playing that day. I’ll save the suspense for those who want to be surprised.

    Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:33 pm

  26. @GiveUp…hilarious. Yep that’s exactly what they need.

    Comment by 10th ward Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:37 pm

  27. They could pay me less and get the same results.

    Comment by Scoot Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:38 pm

  28. Dear Sox Fans

    I am truly sorry. But make lemonade, right? You are in fact on track to be able to say the same thing those Cubs can say: At one point, we were in fact the worst team in baseball - we still hold the losing record for “X”.

    Just like politics, it is a historic moment in our state, and more significantly, our nation.

    Comment by H-W (Cardinals fan) Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:43 pm

  29. Anybody check Sam’s old place to see if they are missing a billygoat?

    Comment by Give Us Barabbas Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:52 pm

  30. This 2024 team is so bad we kinda lose sight of the fact the Sox have been mostly bad for a long time. They have the worst cumulative record in the American League since the start of the 2011 season, with only three winning records in that time. And they’ve played in fewer post season games than any team since divisional play started in 1969 other than the Colorado Rockies, a team that didn’t exist until 1993.

    The franchise needs a deep organizational rebuild.

    Comment by BC Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:56 pm

  31. The worst thing is that the owner couldn’t care less. No firing of management responsible for this, as a signal to fans that this type of losing is not tolerated.

    Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:58 pm

  32. I will say I made a bit with the now legal books on the Sox losing, yesterday, I figured it had to end, and the odds are now terrible on taking them to lose.
    That’s $5 lost.

    Good lord, they are terrible

    Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 1:58 pm

  33. I don’t know why Sox fans are so upset. You wanted a record-breaking team and you’ve got one.

    Comment by JoanP Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 2:30 pm

  34. @JSMill

    ==I want to go to a game so badly since tickets are so cheap but I just cannot.==

    This right here. I haven’t been able to bring myself to go to a game yet either. I miss the nostalgia of going to the ballpark!

    Comment by Slooper Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 3:08 pm

  35. === want to go to a game so badly since tickets are so cheap but I just cannot===

    Because they blow so many games in the late innings, a friend of mine goes for two beers on free swag nights and then leaves.

    Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 3:19 pm

  36. I watch and watch and watch. It is so painful that it gravitated to my leg in reaction and I am now using a cane to get around

    Comment by Steve B Wednesday, Jul 31, 24 @ 3:21 pm

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