Little noticed, amid the election brouhaha, is that something extraordinary is happening in baseball this season.
The hapless (and helpless) Chicago White Sox are on track to become the most losing team in Major League Baseball history, bar none.
The standings speak for themselves. As of July 31, 2024, the White Sox have won 27 games and lost 84 games, for a won-loss percentage of .243. If you thought the Cubs or Mets sucked, this takes “sucks” to a whole new, nearly unprecedented, level.
The only team with a worse record after 110 games is the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, who lost 86 of 110 (see article here).
This is historic, folks, albeit not in a good way. The question is, why are the 2024 White Sox so bad? There’s no easy answer. While their roster isn’t great, it has some good players, and their pitching “has been fine.”
But their hitting “is egregious” and their position players are “as bad as possible at as many things as possible.” Sure sounds like a team you want to pitch against and hit against. As bad as their batting is, “These players are somehow much worse at fielding than at hitting.” Just how bad is that???
“It’s the butchering defense that drives home the White Sox experience when one takes the plunge of watching them play live. Routine double-play balls become multi-run-scoring errors. Soft line drives to outfielders become stand-up triples as the ball rolls to the wall. Catchers turn strikes into balls with well-below-average pitch framing and allow some of the highest stolen base totals in baseball.
“I do not recommend looking too closely at any given White Sox game, but the chances are overwhelming that you’ll see several of these things if you watch your favorite team play even one game against the South Siders.”
This is team any manager would want to play to give his rookies experience at getting on base, running the base paths, stealing bases, and crossing the plate. It’s not a team anyone should want to manage; this is a team whose fans celebrate when a player gets shipped to a farm club. It is a team any decent player would feel ecstatic to be traded from. To sum up,
“That a team could be this grisly in 2024 is a disgrace to baseball and an embarrassment for the executives who have allowed it. But the White Sox aren’t a ballclub anymore. They’re a rubbernecking opportunity, and this is a wreck with kerosene spread all around it.”
By the way, who does own this train wreck, run its front office, and manage it? Out of respect for the soon-to-be-dying, I will not name them here. If you really want to know, go here. Meanwhile I’ve posted a video sampler of 2024 White Sox play below, for those with iron stomachs (or who don’t give a damn about sports, and baseball in particular).