White Sox making serious run at record for modern baseball futility

The Chicago White Sox enter play on Friday night against the Minnesota Twins riding a 17-game losing streak and have yet to win a single game in the second half of the 2024 season (0-14 since the All-Star break). Going against one of the top American League playoff contenders for a weekend series after trading several of the top players off of its roster prior to Tuesday's trade deadline is not likely to help matters for them.

This losing streak has not only been a chore for White Sox fans to watch, it has also put the team on a pace to set a new record for futility in the modern baseball era.

With a 27-84 record on Friday, the White Sox' .243 winning percentage would put them on a pace for 123 losses over a full 162-game season. If they maintain that pace, that would set the modern-era record (since 1900) for most losses in a season. The record is currently owned by the expansion 1962 New York Mets, a club which lost 120 games. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders lost 134 games, but just missed modern era cut-off.

With that context in mind, the White Sox are rapidly approaching nearly uncharted territories for losing. The only recent teams that has even come close to this level of futility were the 2003 Detroit Tigers (119 losses), the 2018 Baltimore Orioles (115 losses) and the 2019 Tigers (114 losses).

Regardless of whether the White Sox actually set the modern record for losses, this has been a stunningly bad season for the franchise. It is quite possible Chicago reaches 90 losses before winning their 30th game. They have already clinched a losing season (82 losses) before the start of August. They have 14 more losses than the league's next worst team (the Colorado Rockies have dropped 70 games).

After playing three games in Minnesota, the White Sox will play three games in Oakland against an A's team that is also near the bottom of the league standings. That might represent their next best chance to pick up a couple of wins. If they do not get them there, this season could really start to turn into a mess.

It was only a couple of years ago that the White Sox looked like an on-the-rise team with some promising young talent. They made back-to-back playoff appearances in 2020 and 2021, reaching the ALDS during the latter season. They then lost 81 and 101 games, respectively, in the seasons that followed. And now, the White Sox are on pace to lose more games than any team in the modern era.