As the 2024 Major League Baseball season nears its conclusion, the Chicago White Sox find themselves poised to make history, but not the kind their fans would celebrate. With a dismal record of 36-120, the team has already tied the infamous 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in a modern baseball season. With six games left to play, the White Sox are on the brink of holding the worst record in modern baseball history outright.
This season has been a catastrophic affair for the White Sox in every conceivable aspect of the game. Offensively, they are batting an anemic .220/.278/.339, well below the league-average slash line of .244/.312/.400. Their team OPS+ of 76 indicates they are 24% worse than the league average in terms of getting on base and hitting for power. To add to their offensive woes, the White Sox have hit only 127 home runs this season, the fewest in the league. Not a single player on the roster has reached the 20-home run milestone.
Scoring has been a persistent issue, with the team averaging just 3.07 runs per game, the lowest in the league by a significant margin. To put this into perspective, the Tampa Bay Rays, who are 29th in runs per game, average 3.78 runs. The White Sox have been outscored 799-479 over the course of the season, leading to a staggering -320 run differential.
Andrew Vaughn has emerged as one of the team's few offensive bright spots, leading in both RBIs (67) and runs (54). However, in a typical measure of success, Vaughn ranks just 103rd out of 130 qualifying players in OPS for the batting title. This stands as a testament to the overall inefficacy of Chicago's lineup.
Defensively, the White Sox have fared no better. They have been the worst defensive team in the league, registering -83 total zone runs. For context, the Miami Marlins, who are 29th in this metric, have -53 total zone runs. Teams like the Brewers and Mariners, leading the league, have 46 total zone runs, highlighting the vast disparity.
On the pitching front, Erick Fedde, one of the few consistent performers, hasn't pitched since July 27. The White Sox's collective performance in FanGraphs' version of WAR stands at a grim -6.8, making them the only team in the league with a negative figure. The Colorado Rockies, who are 29th, boast a comparatively healthy 4.1 WAR.
Their performance on the road has been particularly abysmal. With a 16-62 road record, the White Sox have the fewest road wins in the league. The Rockies, the next worst, have 24. At home, the situation is not much better, with a 20-58 record, again the worst in the league. The Marlins next fewest home wins stand at 30-51. Historically, before this season, the White Sox had never lost more than 55 road games or 53 home games in a single season.
The team has endured numerous lengthy slumps, including streaks of 21, 14, and 12 straight losses. They have also suffered additional losing streaks of seven, six, and two stints of five, one of which is still active. Prior to this season, the White Sox had endured losing streaks of 12 games or more only three times in their history, in 1924, 1927, and 1967.
Since the All-Star break, the team has gone 9-49. No team has ever won fewer than 15 games in a full second half, a dubious record currently held by the Athletics, who went 15-61 in 1915 and 1943. The White Sox's best months this season were May and June, each with a 9-19 record. Their worst month was July, where they went an abysmal 3-22.
The White Sox have managed winning records against just five teams: the Braves (2-1), Rockies (2-1), Cardinals (2-1), Rays (4-2), and Nationals (2-1). However, against their divisional rivals in the AL Central, the team is a horrific 12-41.
The 2024 season has undoubtedly been the worst in Major League Baseball history for the Chicago White Sox, marked by historically poor performance in nearly every facet of the game. As they enter their final stretch, the White Sox face the somber reality of etching their names into the record books for all the wrong reasons.