2024 Chicago White Sox

From BR Bullpen

ChicagoWhiteSox 100.png

2024 Chicago White Sox / Franchise: Chicago White Sox / BR Team Page[edit]

Record: 41-121, Finished 5th in AL Central Division (2024 AL)

Managed by Pedro Grifol (28-89) / Grady Sizemore (13-32)

Coaches: Jason Bourgeois, Drew Butera, Mike Gellinger, Justin Jirschele, Ethan Katz, Charlie Montoyo, Eddie Rodriguez, Doug Sisson, Grady Sizemore, Marcus Thames, Mike Tosar and Matt Wise

Ballpark: Guaranteed Rate Field

History, Comments, Contributions[edit]

The 2024 Chicago White Sox were coming off a very rough 2023 season that had seen them finish in last place and deal away a large number of veterans with the view of being again competitive a few years down the road. In the meantime though, their fans knew that they would be in for a rough ride this year, as none of the players acquired the previous year were ready to contribute, and the selling was not done: just before the start of the season, they dealt their best starting pitcher, Dylan Cease, to the San Diego Padres for yet another package of prospects.

Just as expected, the Sox struggled from the get-go. They lost 22 of their first 25 games, one of the worst starts by any major league team in history. After a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays from April 26-28, they played better for a spell, going 11-8 over the following three weeks to be at 14-30 on May 15th. The final win in that stretch was a 2-0 shutout of the Washington Nationals behind the pitching of former reliever Garrett Crochet, who had made his first career start on Opening Day but had since emerged as one of the best starters in the American League. He would end up as the Sox's only representative at the 2024 All-Star Game, but literally since Day One of the season, there were trade rumors around him, given that his trade value would never be higher. Another starter who was doing better than his record may have shown was Erick Fedde, an off-season free agent signing from the Korea Baseball Organization, and his name was also continually mentioned in trade rumors.

After that brief high point, the White Sox went back to their losing ways, however. They lost 18 of their next 19 games, including a 14-game losing streak, putting them at 15-48 on June 6th. By that point, a series against the White Sox was seen by all opponents as a way for a struggling team to right the ship, but concurrently any wins achieved against the sorry squad were also discounted as not being of true major league caliber. After the brutal streak, Chicago played slightly better the rest of the month, going 9-14, to finish June at 24-62. They had already fallen 30 games back of first place at that point. Often, teams that start a season really poorly tend to play better after a few really bad months, because of the natural gravitational pull towards the center. However, it was not the case for the Sox in July, as they racked up another 14-game losing streak starting with a loss in the second game of a doubleheader on July 10th. At the end of the day on July 28th, their record was 27-81, which put them in the same territory as legendarily awful teams such as the 1962 New York Mets (who were 29-79 at that point) and the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (23-85).

On July 29th, they traded away three veterans with the trading deadline approaching, sending Ps Fedde and Michael Kopech and OF Tommy Pham to the Los Angeles Dodgers in return for three prospects, headlined by IF Miguel Vargas; L.A. in turn flipped Fedde and Pham to the St. Louis Cardinals to obtain IF Tommy Edman. While there were also some players to be named later involved, at first glance the Sox had not done particularly well in the deal, as other teams had been able to obtain at least a couple of prospects for each veteran dealt away. The Sox did hang on to Crochet and to the previous year's All-Star, Luis Robert, as their demands for these two players were reportedly very high. In any case, the losing streak continued after the trading deadline, and reached 20 games on August 4th with a 13-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins. This broke the franchise record and was tied for the third longest in major league history, after the 21 losses at the start of the season by the 1988 Baltimore Orioles and the 23 losses by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies. They tied the Orioles' American League mark with another loss on August 5th, 5-1 against the Oakland Athletics with one of their top prospects, Ky Bush, making his debut as the starting pitcher and being charged with the loss. They finally snapped the skid with a 5-1 win over Oakland the following day. On August 8th, however, upper management announced some sweeping changes, with the firing of manager Pedro Grifol as well as bench coach Charlie Montoyo and coaches Eddie Rodriguez and Mike Tosar. Grady Sizemore was promoted from the coaching ranks to serve as interim manager, and Doug Sisson, Justin Jirschele and Mike Gellinger added to the coaching staff to complete the season.

On September 1st, in a rare highlight, Garrett Crochet began a start at home against the New York Mets by striking out the first seven batters he faced in succession, thereby tying the American League record held by three other pitchers. However, the White Sox again failed to score in the game - it was their 15th shutout loss - losing 2-0, and in the process set a new franchise record for losses in a season with 107 - with a month still to go! The 1970 edition of the team had previously held the dubious mark, and the Sox completed a winless ten-game home stand, while also falling to 4-40 over their last 44 games, something only "achieved" by one other team - the 1916 Athletics who had gone 3-41 in one stretch. The change of managers had had little effect on the team's performance. On September 14-15, the White Sox won back-to-back games for the first time since the end of June; that left them five losses behind the 1962 Mets' record of 120 with 12 games to go. On September 21st, a 6-2 loss to the Padres was their 119th of the season, tying the AL record set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers. They set a new AL record and tied the Mets the following day when they blew a 2-1 lead against the Padres in the 8th inning, going down to a 4-2 loss, their 120th of the year. Many of the team's remaining fans felt slighted when the Sox achieved a rare win in their next game on September 24th, defeating the Los Angeles Angels at home, 3 -2, thanks to a three-run rally in the 8th - those conflicted fans were wanting to see history being made with a 121st loss and felt disappointed. It was also their first time all year winning a game in which they had trailed after six, seven or eight innings, averting matching a dubious record set by the 2020 Washington Nationals (in a season of only 60 games, mind you). That said, the Angels were chasing their own negative history, as the loss was the team's 94th, one off their all-time worst mark of 95, achieved in 1980. They beat the Angels again the following night, this time in 10 innings, to stay at 120 losses and allow the Halos to tie their franchise mark.

The White Sox ran into the hottest team in the majors for their final series, the Detroit Tigers, and the Bengals showed no mercy as they were looking for a win to clinch a spot in the postseason. After four scoreless innings by Crochet in his final start of the season, the Tigers scored twice off Jared Shuster in the 5th, and after Chicago clawed one run back, put the game away with two more runs off Fraser Ellard in the 7th. It was the 121st loss of the season, setting a new modern major league record. The only consolation was that the all-time record of 134 losses set by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders would remain undisturbed as there were only two games left to play after that one. They did not plumb any further depths as they won their final two games, both against the Tigers, to give them five wins in their final six games. As a result, their final record was 41-121 - just one game worse than the Amazin' Mets.

Awards and Honors[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Sonja Chen: "White Sox tie record for AL's longest losing streak", mlb.com, August 6, 2024. [1]
  • Sonja Chen: "Rookie's 'It' factor gets South Siders 1st 'W' in 27 days", mlb.com, August 7, 2024. [2]
  • John Denton: "Fedde, Pham to Cards; Edman to Dodgers in 3-team deal with White Sox", mlb.com, July 29, 2024. [3]
  • Bill Hupp: "White Sox losing streak reaches 20 after loss to Twins", mlb.com, August 4, 2024. [4]
  • Scott Merkin: "White Sox dismiss Grifol; search for new manager underway", mlb.com, August 8, 2024. [5]
  • Scott Merkin: "White Sox stand on brink of MLB history", mlb.com, September 21, 2024. [6]
  • Scott Merkin: "White Sox join 1962 Mets with record 120 losses", mlb.com, September 22, 2024. [7]
  • Scott Merkin: "White Sox lose 121st game, the most losses in a single season", mlb.com, September 27, 2024. [8]
  • Alexandre Pratt: "White Sox de Chicago: La pire équipe depuis 125 ans (minimum !)", La Presse, September 5, 2024. [9]
  • Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune): "Chicago White Sox fans ‘don’t deserve’ to endure this historically bad season — but they should be used to it by now", Yahoo! Sports, September 24, 2024. [10]
  • Noah Trister (The Associated Press): "Another 14-game losing streak (and counting) has White Sox on pace to match 1962 Mets for futility", Yahoo! Sports, July 29, 2024. [11]