How did the Chicago White Sox, the worst team in baseball history, come to be?

The 2024 season has been a painful journey for everyone involved with the Chicago White Sox, who have seen their team descend into an abyss little known before.

One loss separates them from becoming the biggest loser in Major League Baseball history, leaving behind the Mets who, in their 1962 expansion campaign, fell 120 times. Unlike the New York team, which is considered a team of inexperienced rookies, these White Sox were supposed to improve on their 61-101 record from the previous season. But none of that happened.

The White Sox will make history on Tuesday if they stumble against the Los Angeles Angels. It is the first of a series of three games. They close the season by visiting the Detroit Tigers.

At the start of the season, both general manager Chris Getz and manager Pedro Grifol, who was later fired, displayed an optimism that now seems cruelly ironic. Getz praised his players’ IQs, and Grifol highlighted the addition of promising talent. But promises of a better season quickly faded with a series of devastating injuries and a string of questionable managerial decisions.

The Ordeal of Injuries

Injuries have played a crucial role in the White Sox’s downfall. Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jimenez, and Andrew Benintendi — the top four hitters in the Opening Day lineup — missed a combined 268 games. These players, who make a combined $66.4 million, were only available 53.6 percent of the time. Injuries are a valid excuse, but they’re also a stark reality that reflects the fragility of the roster.

Andrew Vaughn, who was expected to emerge as a key player, has been unable to fill the void left by Jose Abreu. Since Vaughn became the primary first baseman, the team has had a disastrous record of 97-221 compared to previous seasons under Abreu’s leadership. Additionally, the rapid regression of two-time All-Star Tim Anderson, who was never the same after an injury in 2022, left the team without an anchor at shortstop.

The White Sox front office has clung to an outdated management model, ignoring modern baseball trends like the Moneyball approach. While other teams, like the Cubs and Astros, have embraced advanced algorithms and analytics to evaluate talent, the White Sox have been left behind, stuck in a last-century approach. Their metrics are the same as teams used decades ago, and they have been unwilling to dig deeper into the numbers like other big-time organizations do.

Failure to update its analysis department has caused its statistics to be disastrous

The White Sox’s statistical performance this season has been abysmal. With a team offensive line of .220/.278/.339 and an OPS+ of 76, they are 24 percent below league average in terms of getting on base and hitting for power.

They have been outscored 799-479 this season, with a run differential of -320. The team leader in WAR is Erick Fedde, who hasn’t pitched since July 27, and the leader in RBI is Andrew Vaughn, with just 67.

On the defensive front, the White Sox have the worst record at -83 total runs per zone. According to FanGraphs, their WAR is a staggering -6.8, making them the only team with a negative value. Their road record is particularly dismal, at 16-62, the worst in the league.

They have a record of 9-49 since the All-Star break. No team has won fewer than 15 games in a full second half. (The A's went 15-61 in both 1915 and 1943.)

Their home form hasn’t been any better, with a 20-58 record second only to the Marlins in misery. They’ve had historic losing streaks, including 21 games in a row, 14 in a row, and 12 in a row at different points in the season. Their worst month was July, with a 3-22 record, followed closely by August at 4-22. Prior to this season, the White Sox had only endured losing streaks of at least 12 games three times, but they doubled that number this year.

A Bitter Farewell

The White Sox’s downfall is a tragedy for a franchise that, less than two decades ago, was celebrating a World Series championship. Now, on the brink of being the worst team in modern baseball history, they face an uncertain future. Fans, players, and the city itself are caught in a whirlwind of frustration and hopelessness, watching helplessly as their team plummets into the abyss of infamy.

The question on everyone’s mind is: How did a team with so much promise get to this breaking point?

The answers are complex and multifaceted, but ultimately, what’s left is a broken team, a disillusioned fan base, and a legacy tainted by ineptitude and bad luck.

In this sporting funeral, the Chicago White Sox are desperately searching for a spark of hope amid the ashes of a disastrous season.