The White Sox are about to sink into major league infamy

Baseball is a numbers game, and alongside a million statistics, records are a major pillar of the game. The ones to chase are obvious—home runs, strikeouts, stolen bases, etc.—but there are also a few to avoid.

Besides the “longest World Series drought” (76 years, still held by Cleveland), the Chicago White Sox are on pace for what is arguably the worst of the bunch.

On Sunday, the Sox tied the Major League Baseball record of 120 losses in a single season since 1900, held by the 1962 New York Mets, when the San Diego Padres beat the hapless Southsiders 4-2 after a three-run comeback in the eighth inning that was capped by a towering home run by Fernando Tatis Jr.

The crushing defeat came just 24 hours after the Sox tied the American League record of 119 regular-season losses set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who were celebrating the passing of the baton to arguably their fiercest rival.

But soon, the Mets might break out the champagne, too.

As the deflated Sox players headed to a darkened clubhouse and quietly packed for their flight home, they found themselves reflecting on a season of last-minute losses, something veteran outfielder Andrew Benintendi acknowledged.

“Yeah, we joke about it all the time. You never feel like you’re getting crushed, and then the seventh, eighth, ninth innings come around and you’re playing their seven, eight, nine inning guys every night, which is huge. It’s tough to score runs at the end of the bullpen,” he said.

“It seems like we’ve been through this situation many times before and it’s never worked.

“I guess when you lose 120 it’s easier to ignore it, but it’s painful to go through it, but that’s where we are.”

With one more loss in their final six games, the 2024 White Sox will become the ignominious holders of the modern record. It’s unlikely they’ll be able to shake that label, as they were scheduled to open a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday and will end their season with three losses in Detroit, which is still in the running for an American League wild-card spot.

Faced with the unwanted records piling up under his watch, interim manager Grady Sizemore could only be pragmatic. “Not losing is good,” he said, adding: “It’s not something we’re focused on. I think everybody outside of this dressing room is more obsessed with that than we are. Our way of looking at it is to put this loss behind us and get ready for the series at home.”

Asked how his players handled the situation, Sizemore said: “We all know the situation. We know where we are. We have work to do and they are always playing for something. They handled it like professionals and we will be back on the field on Tuesday ready to play and give our best.”

Receiver Korey Lee summed up the mood in the locker room: “I think if you ask all 50 guys (on the roster this season), we’re not going to be happy with that. If you’re happy with that, I don’t know what you’re doing here.”

“I think it’s obviously tough, but at the same time, everyone comes here every day and gives their best.”

While there will surely be jokes, criticism and a few overzealous jabs online – even the club’s social media admin on X has taken to posting chaotic memes and sarcastic barbs in lieu of the final scores – there will surely be questions about the mental toll all this is taking on the players.

Lee says, however, that despite the disappointing run of results, the team has stuck together and supported each other. “Honestly, what I look forward to every day when I come here is having the guy right next to me and knowing that he’s going to take care of me, inside and out, on and off the field.

“That’s all you can ask for. We’re surrounded by a good family. Sure, there’s a lot of bad times, but you have to make the best of every day. And the good part is coming out here with this group of guys and doing what we all love to do.”

In the spirit of finding the positives, while this season’s statistics will weigh like a ball and chain around the Southsiders’ necks for, one would assume, some time, it’s worth noting that at 20-134, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders still hold the major league’s all-time record for losses.

This means that if the Sox lost again this season, they would not be the worst team in baseball history.

Simply the worst in the last 124 years.

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