The Chicago White Sox have officially hit rock bottom.
With a 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday, the White Sox dropped their 120th game of the 2024 season, tying them with the 1962 New York Mets for the most defeats in a season during baseball’s modern era (since 1901).
They also set a new American League record for futility, breaking the 2003 Detroit Tigers’ mark.
Only one other team in the 19th century – the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who went 20-134 – has ever lost more games in a season than both the 2024 White Sox and ’62 Mets.
Most losses in a season all time
| Team | Record | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1899 Cleveland Spiders | 20-134 |
| 2 | 1962 Mets | 40-120 |
| 2 | 2024 White Sox | 36-120* |
| 4 | 2003 Tigers | 43-119 |
| 5 | 1916 Philadelphia Athletics | 36-117 |
| 6 | 1935 Boston Braves | 38-115 |
| 6 | 2018 Orioles | 47-115 |
* Record as of Sunday
“We are not going to be happy about it. If you are happy about it, then I don’t know what you are doing here,” catcher Korey Lee said postgame, according to Scott Merkin of MLB.com.
The White Sox now sport a .231 winning percentage that currently stands as the worst of the modern era. That’s four points below the modern record of .235 set by the 1916 Philadelphia A’s during a 154-game season. Their minus-320 run differential, meanwhile, is the fifth-worst of the expansion era (since 1961).
Chicago looked like it might avoid infamy for at least one more day after Miguel Vargas’ sixth-inning homer put the team ahead 2-1. But relievers Prelander Berroa and Fraser Ellard combined to allow three Padres runs in the bottom of the eighth. Andrew Vaughn reached base with two outs in the ninth before Robert Suarez struck out Gavin Sheets to seal the team’s fate.
The loss continued a trend of late-game futility for the South Siders, who have now been outscored 214-105 during the seventh and eighth innings this season, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. They also dropped to 0-102 when trailing after eight innings.
The White Sox have six games remaining to try and avoid setting the modern standard for futility outright. They’ll return home to host the Los Angeles Angels in a three-game series beginning Tuesday before finishing with three at Detroit.
