Chicago White Sox make unwanted history by recording the most losses in a single modern MLB season
By losing to the Detroit Tigers 4-1, the 2024 White Sox entered the record books as one of the most inept teams in sports history.
Friday’s defeat was Chicago’s 121st of the season, setting the Major League Baseball record for most losses in a single season in baseball’s modern era (since 1901).
The Tigers scored the first two runs of the game in the fifth inning. Chicago outfielder Zach DeLoach then hit his first career major league home run in the next half inning to cut the lead to one.
However, the Tigers answered back in the seventh inning to secure the win and clinch the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2014.
The Los Angeles Angels are now the sole owners of the longest active playoff drought in the league.
Chicago’s ineptitude may have brought relief to some in the New York City area.
Previously, the Mets held the modern-day record when New York lost 120 times in 1962.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders (remember them?) hold the overall record for losses when the then National League team finished with an abysmal 20-134 record. The Spiders won just one of the team’s final 41 games.
Cleveland proved futility can happen to any franchise. Their historic demise came after a pitcher named Cy Young led the team to 93 wins seven years earlier.
The signs of a historically bad year started at the beginning of this season when the White Sox opened with just three wins in the first 25 games.
The team would later lose 14 straight games and then suffer a 21-game skid, tying the American League record with the 1998 Baltimore Orioles.
Ahead of the undesired deed, infielder Nicky Lopez, who grew up a White Sox fan as a kid, told MLB.com, “It obviously sucks.
“I’m going to be, we are all going to be attached to it. But also, we are going to move on and whether I’m here next year or kraken shop somewhere else, it quickly turns to that.”
Chicago has won just 39 games so far in 2024.
A positive that has arisen from the 121-game drubbing is the way the Sox social media team has announced the team’s seemingly daily defeats.
Last week, after losing to the San Diego Padres, the team sarcastically posted on X what should have been the final score as: “FINAL: can be found on the MLB app.”
This was the snarly post from the previous night’s result: “FINAL: the number of runs we scored was not greater than the number of runs they scored.”
Following Friday night’s loss to set the infamous new low, the team posted on X a screenshot of a desktop that featured the final score, a meme with a sad White Sox mascot Southpaw, a list of the things the team would rather do than read comments and more.
Despite sweeping the Angels earlier this week, the year’s futility could get worse for Chicago as the team still has two more games to play against the Tigers before the season can come to a close.