Chicago White Sox’s Historically Abysmal Start

The Chicago White Sox were swept by the Phillies on Sunday and plunge to a franchise-worst and league-worst 3-18 record.

With the most recent loss, the White Sox are now on pace to be among the worst teams, statistically, in baseball history.

Alarming Statistics

The Chicago-based team has a number of league-worst statistics. They have the lowest team batting average at .188, lowest on-base percentage at .264, lowest number of home runs hit with 11, and more. Paul DeJong leads the team in homers with a mere three.

The White Sox have dropped nine of their last 10 games. By nearly every metric, the White Sox are the worst team in the MLB; the second-worst team, the Colorado Rockies, hold a 5-17 record.

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The Lead-Up

The White Sox have been in disarray for some time, but it’s never been as bad as now. In 2016 after a 78-84 season, the team began a rebuild. Within two years, they traded pitchers Chris Sale and Jose Quintana and outfielder Adam Eaton, acquiring a total of nine players, such as Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, and Eloy Jimenez. Despite this, the White Sox didn’t have a winning season until 2020.

Still, over the years the team acquired stars such as Yasmani Grandal, Dallas Keuchel, Liam Hendriks, and Lance Lynn. These moves didn’t pan out. Lynn, Keuchel, Lopez, Giolito, and Cease all ended up being let go or traded.

General manager Rick Hahn and executive vice president Ken Williams were both fired in August. Both had held their titles since 2012. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf cited lack of team success for their departures.

Historically Poor

Since 1901, the Chicago White Sox are only one of 12 teams to win three or fewer games within the first 21 games. The worst White Sox season in history came all the way back in 1932, when the team finished 49-102 for a .325 winning percentage. The 2024 White Sox currently have a winning percentage of .143 and are on-pace to eclipse the 1932 team as worst in franchise-history.

As a matter of fact, their .143 winning percentage would rank as the second-worst team of all time, just above the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. The Spiders went on to finish the season with a winning percentage of .130.

Will the White Sox figure it out soon enough to avoid even more historic infamy? They have until September.