The Chicago White Sox are poised to make baseball history, yet no one should be happy about it.
Losing this season was expected by many fans and pundits, but it was not supposed to be this bad. Based on their current status, the White Sox are on a pace to go 25-137. Let that sink in for a minute.
Chances are the team will-fingers crossed-win more than 25 games this season, but there is a good possibility that their futility could place them even further into the record books.
What makes their current record so headshaking is the seven times they have been shutout during that period, which tied a record dating back to 1901. In fact, they successfully avoided picking up their eighth blanking when the Sox scored five runs in the ninth inning of Saturday night's 9-5 loss.
Last year, the Oakland A's opened the season 4-16 through their first 20 games and 10-40 through their first 50, which tied them for fourth all-time worst record over that many games. The talk centered around the possibility of them finishing with the worst 162-game record, but they got their act together and missed out on history finishing up at 50-112.
The A's won one of every five games through that first 20. Following Sunday's loss to the Phillies, the White Sox 3-18 mark put them at one win every seven games.
Oakland posted a 12-46 total before the end of June which is the MLB record for defeats by the end of May. The White Sox current trajectory could put that record in jeopardy.
Their inability to do just about anything offensively at even an average to slightly below average level makes them as good a candidate as there is to break the 2003 Detroit Tigers' won/loss record over 162 games at 43-119. They might even finish worse than the 1962 New York Mets, who dropped 120 of 160 games that year.
Consider this: the White Sox offense entering Sunday's game against the Phillies ranks last in MLB in home runs, runs batted in, batting average, hits, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging percentage, and runs,
It has to get better at some point, right?
The possible arrival of Tommy Pham should help turn things around, right? How about Danny Mendick getting hot in Charlotte and carrying that to Chicago? Just kidding.
The White Sox issues are greater than that, and what little those players can offer is not about to turn this around significantly.
General manager Chris Getz wanted to make upgrades defensively and brought in Nicky Lopez, Paul DeJong, Martin Maldonado, Dominic Fletcher, Kevin Pillar and Robbie Grossman to solidify what was a glaring issue for the team over the years. However, the team is 24th in MLB in errors and 27th in fielding percentage.
Injuries to the likes of Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert Jr. have been well documented and, frankly, the few times they have all been together (since Robert Jr.'s debut in 2020, 151 out of 558 games) the team had not played to championship level.
Add to it the farm system not churning out well-developed talent over the years, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf's refusal to pay out for talent like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado when presented with the opportunity and the outlook for this team to turn the corner over the next few years isn't very promising.
When Reinsdorf hired Getz, he said last year was "absolutely the worst season I've ever been through. It was a nightmare. Embarrassing. Disgusting. Just awful."
If that's what Reinsdorf thought then, what will he think if this season continues the way it's headed.