The South Siders make the wrong kind of baseball history in 2024
The Chicago White Sox are the biggest rival to our Minnesota Twins. Yes, Twins Territory has feuded with the likes of Cleveland, Kansas City, & Detroit from time to time, but the South Siders are the Green Bay Packers to our Minnesota Vikings—the team we love to hate.
So, even while remaining ensconced in Target Field doings, we glance in the direction of the Pale Hose from time to time. In 2024, this meant laughter, derision, and failure of historic proportions.
Growing up, I’d check out baseball history books from the local public library and marvel at the 120-loss campaign of the 1962 New York Mets. All those pictures of a befuddled Casey Stengel—how was it possible a team could lose that many games in one summer?
Well, I have a better frame of reference now: seven 4-game losing streaks—two 5-gamers—yet still separate 6-game, 7-game, 12-game, 14-game, and 21-game winless runs. With a final record of 41-121, the ’24 ChiSox dipped to despicable levels not seen since the mythical 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134).
This got me thinking about the worst single-season squads of all time. Though not an exact science, here are my submissions (and poll for you to sound off!) on the historic dregs…
(note: I’m excluding the Spiders because they are a pre-Modern Era—1901+—unit)
1962 New York Mets (40-120-1)
Manager: Casey Stengel; Ballpark: Polo Grounds
Longest losing streak: 17 games
Team OPS+: 82; Worst batter: Rod Kanehl (378 PA, 60 OPS+)
Team ERA+: 82; Worst Pitcher: Craig Anderson (3-17, 78 ERA+)
2024 Chicago White Sox (XX-XXX)
Manager: Pedro Grifol & Grady Sizemore; Ballpark: Guaranteed Rate Field
Longest losing streak: 21 games
Team OPS+: 77; Worst batter: Korey Lee (386 PA, 69 OPS+)
Team ERA+: 87; Worst pitcher: Chris Flexen (2-15, 80 ERA+)
1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117-1)
Manager: Connie Mack; Ballpark: Shibe Park
Longest losing streak: 20 games
Team OPS+: 90; Worst batter: 41-year old Nap Lajoie (455 PA, 80 OPS+
Team ERA+: 73; Worst pitcher: Jack Nabors (1-20, 82 ERA+)
Photo by The Stanley Weston Archive/Getty Images
1952 Pittsburgh Pirates (42-112)
Manager: Billy Meyer; Ballpark: Forbes Field
Longest losing streak: 10 games
Team OPS+: 73; Worst batter: Tony Bartirome (386 PA, 48 OPS+)
Team ERA+: 80; Worst pitcher: Ron Kline (0-7, 72 ERA+)
2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119)
Manager: Alan Trammell; Ballpark: Comerica Park
Longest losing streak: 11 games
Team OPS+: 83; Worst batter: Ramon Santiago (507 PA, 59 OPS+)
Team ERA+: 81. Worst pitcher: Mike Maroth (9-21, 75 ERA+)
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Lest I become too hubristic, I am well aware the Twins are less than a decade removed from a “total system failure” 59-103 finish (2016) and my next piece later this week won’t be much kinder to the home bunch. Baseball’s Grim Reaper can descend at any time—in ’24 it just happened to take the Dan Ryan Expressway.