The Chicago White Sox now have the dubious distinction of having lost the most games in a modern Major League Baseball season. They lost to the Tigers, 4-1, Friday night in Detroit’s Comerica Park for their 121st loss of the 2024 season. The previous record for losses was 120, set by the expansion Mets in 1962. Those Mets were 40-120-1.
The history-making game doubled as a playoff clincher for the upstart Tigers. As such, a huge crowd was on hand to witness history. The White Sox started ace Garrett Crochet in hopes of putting their best foot forward in their part of the playoff race. Crochet spun four scoreless innings, but the Tigers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the seventh. Those would be plenty for the Tigers’ pitching staff.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders went 20-134, but sweeping changes happened shortly thereafter, leading to the founding of the American League in 1901 to team with the National League and start what is generally referred to as the modern era of MLB.
No team in the modern era has ever lost as many games as these White Sox.
Further, the White Sox’s .244 winning percentage is also, unsurprisingly, historically bad. Here’s a deeper look at their futility, by the numbers.
Here’s the current “leaderboard” in that particular category going back to 1900 (the modern era is typically pegged at 1903, when the National and American Leagues first joined forces).
Most losses in an MLB season (since 1900)
T1. 2024 Chicago White Sox: 121
T1. 1962 New York Mets: 120
3. 2003 Detroit Tigers: 119
4. 1916 Philadelphia Athletics: 117
T5. 2018 Baltimore Orioles: 115
T5. 1935 Boston Braves: 115
As you can see, the White Sox are indeed in rarefied air — and not in a good way.
The mark for most losses in a season on record belongs to the aforementioned 1899 Spiders, who clocked 134 defeats in just 154 games. While on some level no depths should be considered beyond the reach of the current ChiSox model, the Spiders’ 19th century figure is indeed safe.
Now let’s move on to winning percentage. As noted above, the Sox in ’24 have a current winning percentage of just .244. It’s not quite as simple as looking at loss totals and assuming the winning percentages follow perfect suit. The fact that Major League Baseball used to play 154-game schedules contaminates the sample just a bit. So let’s lay out those worst winning percentages of the modern era (i.e. since 1900).
Worst MLB season winning percentage (since 1900)
1. 1916 Philadelphia Athletics: .235 (36-117)
2. 2024 Chicago White Sox: .244 (39-121)
3. 1935 Boston Braves: .248 (38-115)
4. 1962 New York Mets: .250 (40-120)
5. 1904 Washington Senators: .252 (38-113)
This record, belonging to Connie Mack’s 1916 Athletics, is safe. If the White Sox lose the final two games of the 2024 season, they’ll finish with a .241 winning percentage. That three-game winning streak over the Angels at home this past week is what kept the White Sox away from this one.
As for those Spiders, they notched a winning percentage of .130 (!) back in 1899, which, again, is safely out of reach for the White Sox.
And what of run differential? The White Sox at this writing have been out-scored by the opposition by a whopping margin of 312 runs through 160 games. Here’s a look at the worst since 1900:
Worst MLB single-season run differentials (since 1900)
1. 1932 Boston Red Sox: minus-345
2. 1915 Philadelphia Athletics: minus-344
3. 2023 Oakland Athletics: minus-339
4. 2003 Detroit Tigers: minus-337
5. 2019 Detroit Tigers: minus-333
Let’s again take a moment for the conclave of baseball miracles that was the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who managed a run differential of minus-723 (!!). Right now, the modern record appears to be safe from the White Sox, but it’s always possible they get utterly pummeled in their final two games and get into the top five here.
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