Chicago White Sox set MLB modern-day record for losses in a single season

CHICAGO - For two days, the energy continued around Guaranteed Rate Field. It was palpable for the Chicago White Sox and their fans.

History was in the air. The White Sox have put themselves in rarified air in the history of baseball.

The flowery language stops there. It wasn't a good kind of history.

The White Sox set the modern-day record for losses in a single season with their 121st loss of the season on Friday to the Detroit Tigers, with a final score of 4-1.

The loss drops the White Sox to 39-121, breaking the 1962 expansion New York Mets' modern-day record of 120 losses in a single season.

"It's not something we're proud of," White Sox general manager Chris Getz said before Tuesday's game. "There's a myriad of reasons of why we stand here today with the record that we have." 

The White Sox won't own the record for losses in an MLB season. That belongs to the Cleveland Spiders from 1899. But they will carry the sting of a division rival, featuring the voice of former Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti whom the team let walk, handing the White Sox the record-breaking loss. 

The Sox's struggles can be traced back to the core of the successful 2020 and 2021 teams being centered around Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada, three talented but injury-prone players.

The decline of Tim Anderson struck, and the team traded away Lucas Giolito, Aaron Bummer and other key pitchers.

Then came the Dylan Cease deal, followed by this year's trade deadline. Gone were Michael Kopech, Erick Fedde and Jimenez. The losing streaks mounted and the White Sox lost 21 games in a row. The team fired manager Pedro Grifol.

"Obviously, this year's been difficult, obviously losing your manager in the middle of the year and just the turnover of the trade deadline," White Sox's Gavin Sheets said. "It's been a long year and, something that I think everybody's learned something from and should make all of us better."

That difficult season wore on fans on Tuesday. The 17,606 – and 374 dogs for dog day – on hand at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday night were a powder keg.

The collection of fans were apathetic at first. No positive aspect of the Chicago White Sox was enough to make anyone happy. Even in what ended up being a win.

Sheets, Chuckie Robinson, Jonathan Cannon and Miguel Vargas had a moment where the four watched an infield fly ball land at their feet. That began the "sell the team" chants directed at owner Jerry Reisndorf, which continued throughout the game.

One White Sox fan sang his own rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the middle of the seventh. The abridged version was the same, but sang the line "If they don't win it's the same" instead of the line "it's a shame!"

The loudest cheer of the evening game wasn't when Bryan Ramos doubled and scored Zach DeLoach, or when the Sox won 3-2 on Tuesday, either. It was when a fan was ejected from the seats behind home plate and riled up the crowd on his way to the exit.

That energy continued Wednesday as Sox fans continued the "sell the team" chants as the team blew a 2-0 and 3-2 lead before the team won its second straight game 4-3. A sign flew high on Friday saying "this team can't even lose right!" as the Sox finished the sweep of the Angels with a 7-0 win. That energy wasn't well received by the players.

"I don’t love it," White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet said Thursday. "That’s all I’m going to say."

The languish of White Sox fans everywhere began years ago and peaked Friday night in a loss where a new MLB record was set.

Getz, who marked one year into his job as general manager last August, expressed his empathy for the fans before the game.

"We've got tremendous appreciation for our fans and they have shown how passionate they are about the White Sox, maybe more so this year than ever considering how they've stuck by us," Getz said. "I know that they're frustrated, they're upset and we understand that. Now with that being said, it's our job to get us back on track so they can be once again proud to be a White Sox fan."

Still, Getz, with overarching optimism being a task filed under "other duties as assigned" in his job description, was validated. His Sox rallied down 2-0 to take a 3-2 lead in the eighth with an RBI single by Luis Robert, which was a pop fly that Angels' second baseman Jack Lopez dropped in shallow right field, and another RBI single from Andrew Benintendi.

It was validation enough as Getz offered his glass-half-full view of the season.

"Personally, I view this as a tremendous opportunity to build something," Getz said. "We've identified areas in the organization that need to improve. It's very clear our major league club has got room for improvement. I've never been energized more than I am now, and I know I can speak for our group." 

This optimism was in response to the question: "Is this embarrassing for the organization or just part of baseball?"

"Is it an embarrassment? We're not proud of this," Getz said. "No one wants to be associated with it, but we're certainly up for the challenge."