White Sox Just Earned an Honor They Didn't Want

UPDATE Sep 28, 2024 9:00 AM CDT

It's now a done deal. The Chicago White Sox claimed a dubious honor on Friday night after losing 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers: They've now lost more games in one season in modern times (after 1900) than any other MLB team, reports NBC News. With 121 games in the "L" column, that breaks the record previously held by the 1962 expansion New York Mets. "I think the frustration came long before this number," interim manager Grady Sizemore says, per the AP. "This was one of those things you can't be happy about, but I don't know if I would feel any different if we were at 115 or 110." After the loss, the White Sox posted a photo on social media that featured the caption "Things we'd rather do than read comments," along with a smaller pic of the team's dejected-looking mascot next to the words "slams laptop shut til tomorrow."

Sep 23, 2024 1:00 AM CDT

The Chicago White Sox tied the modern-day (post-1900) MLB record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets on Sunday when the San Diego Padres won 4-2 by rallying for three runs in the eighth inning, capped by Fernando Tatis Jr.'s towering home run. The struggling White Sox (36-120) had taken a 2-1 lead on home runs by Korey Lee and Miguel Vargas off Yu Darvish, but that lead quickly disappeared in the eighth. This defeat came a day after the White Sox tied the American League record of 119 losses set by the 2003 Detroit Tigers, the AP reports. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the overall major league record for losses at 20-134.

With one more loss in their final six games, the White Sox will hold the modern-day record outright. They start with three at home against the Los Angeles Angels beginning Tuesday night and finish with three at Detroit, which is in the AL wild-card hunt. Interim manager Grady Sizemore didn't address the team after Sunday night's loss. "No loss is good," he told reporters. "It's not something that we're focused on. I think everyone outside this clubhouse is more obsessed with it than us. The way we spin is to put this one behind us and get ready for the series back home." (More Chicago White Sox stories.)