Stating the Obvious: The Chicago White Sox SUCK!

Today's Vocal sports story is brought to you by the letters W, T, and F.

Seriously, what the hell happened to the Chicago White Sox?! I have been considering writing about this team for a while, because, well, all of this needs to be stated. I was waiting for the right time to address this. One plan involved writing this once this team reached loss #100. The other, addressing this if their losing streak reached 20 games. I didn't think the other option would happen, even though the streak reached 19. Surely, this team wouldn't lose 20 in a row, right?

Then I checked the scores. The White Sox lost, 13-7, to the Minnesota Twins. And there it was: their twentieth straight loss.

The White Sox are 27-87 this season. They have only 27 wins all year. Here's how bad this season is for the White Sox. Their win total is only one higher than the longest winning streak in baseball history: the 1916 New York Giants winning 26 straight games. They are fifteen games behind the second worst team in all of MLB: the Colorado Rockies. They are 0-16 in the second half of this season!

The frightening part about this is that the White Sox are just three years removed from winning the American League Central in 2021, and just two years ago, they finished second in the division behind the Twins. Their current win total is an even one-third of their total from 2022--they finished 81-81 that year.

Let's talk stats, and yes, even this team has actual credible stats. Pretty much everything on the offensive side lies on the shoulders and bat of Andrew Vaughn. He's leading the team in batting average, RBI, and hits. By the way, Vaughn's batting average: .235. Yeah. That leads the team in 2024. He also has 92 hits and 50 RBIs. Oh, and regarding home runs, Paul DeJong, before he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, hit 18 homers for the White Sox. That total led the team. The number that leads this current roster now is 14. Guess who has that total. If you guessed Andrew Vaughn, then congratulations. You've done something the White Sox haven't done in nearly a month: win.

Vaughn and Luis Robert, Jr. are the only ones on the team with double-digit home runs. The White Sox have a grand total of 95 home runs this season, which is actually next-to-last in MLB--only the Washington Nationals have less (89). Regarding pitching, Erick Fedde won seven games for the White Sox, which led the team until he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. The team has an ERA of 4.81, which is next-to-last in MLB--only the Colorado Rockies have a worse ERA (5.45).

According to a tweet I read as I was writing this, the White Sox are actually on pace to finish with a record of 38-124, which would crush the 1962 New York Mets' 120-loss inaugural season. It would still be a far cry from being the worst record in the modern era, but it would definitely serve as the worst season since 1962, which was the year that the National League joined the American League in extending their season from 154 games to the current 162. Despite their horrid record, the White Sox did win a season series in 2024: they finished 4-2 against the Tampa Bay Rays. They are also 5-5 against the Cleveland Guardians, who have one of the best records in baseball this year.

It amazes me how far gone the Chicago White Sox are, and it's even more shocking that it happened in only a three year span. I've seen teams threaten to end up worse than the 1962 Mets, but they've managed to avoid it. This year's White Sox may end up being worse than the Mets' inaugural season. They'll have to win just 16 games to avoid finishing with 120 losses, but I don't know if they can even do that. There is one saving grace: the White Sox have nowhere to go but up after this year.