5 hilarious White Sox stats that show just how bad this terrible team is
The Chicago White Sox are historically bad. They're currently sitting on a 21-game losing streak, tied for the longest losing streak in American League history and they're closing in on the MLB record. Their level of losing has gotten so bad that it's now available on FanDuel to bet on the next time the White Sox will record a win.
They basically emptied their roster at the trade deadline making matters much worse. Erick Fedde, Tommy Pham, Paul DeJong and Eloy Jimenez are among those that were dealt away. They held onto their two best players, Luis Robert Jr. and Garrett Crochet. Without those two, this roster may never win again.
The statistics that this team has put together this year just proves how historically bad they have been.
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5. They're on a historically bad pace
The 1962 Mets finished their season 40-120, good for the lowest winning percentage recorded in Major League Baseball since 1900. Over the last 125 years, nobody has quite put up a season like the 1962 Mets. Through 115 games, they were 30-85 and they finished the season with the worst winning percentafe since the turn of the century and a run differential of -331.
There's no way the White Sox could reach that level of bad, right? Right?
The 2024 White Sox are currently 27-88 through 115 games, three games behind the 1964 Mets at this point in the year. The White Sox are on pace to finish the year with a run differential of -353, 21 runs worse than the Mets did.
Given the fact that the White Sox dealt away a few of their most valuable assets last week, they could be headed right for these records that nobody wants attached to their name.
The pace is so impressively bad that you can't help but sit back and laugh at this point. Well, 29 teams can. The White Sox, their players, their fans and their front office are doing anything but laughing at this point.
Side note, imagine being Miguel Vargas. He was on the Dodgers a week ago and in the blink of an eye he was sent from a World Series contender to one of the worst teams in league.
4. The White Sox are bad all the time
Some teams are good at home but bad on the road. Some teams are good during the day or good at night. There are even teams that perform better in a dome than they do in an open stadium. This is seen in every sport. The cold weather will impact a team like the Miami Dolphins much more than it would effect the Buffalo Bills because the Bills are aclimated to the weather.
With that in mind, let's look into some of the White Sox splits this year. They have to be decent at something, right?
I hate to break the news to you, but the White Sox are just horrendous, period. They're the worst team in the league in every scenario listed above. There's nothing that makes them perform any better than the worst in the league. It's actually quite a ridiculous fact, especially considering the fact that there are some bad teams in the league.
The Rockies and Athletics are objectively bad teams but the White Sox have still found a way to separate themselves into a league of their own at the bottom of the league.
3. Yoan Moncada is their second most valuable position player
WAR is one of the most useful stats for baseball fans, players, front offices and statistical nerds to use when evaluating players. It combines together how productive a player is and just how valuable he is to his team. Players like Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr and Elly De La Cruz stand out on their teams for their incredible WAR numbers.
Yoan Moncada ranks tied for second among White Sox position players in WAR this year. That's a solid stat for Moncada, but it's kind of concerning that nobody in Chicago has a WAR over 1.0.
Where this stat becomes hilarious is when you realize that Moncada hasn't played in a game since April 9. He has missed the last three months of the season, and he remains one of Chicago's most valuable position players.
Robert ranks first, per FanGraphs, with a 0.8 WAR. Paul DeJong is next but he was moved to the Dodgers so he isn't on the team anymore. That leaves Moncada and Nicky Lopez tied for second place in WAR.
Moncada has recorded 44 plate appearances this year. That's how horrendous the offense in Chicago has been this year. But at least they have Luis Robert Jr. and Garrett Crochet still.
2. They're bad even if you eliminate their longest losing streaks
Two of the bigger losing streaks in White Sox history have been achieved this season. Earlier this year, they lost 14 straight. They're actively on a 21-game losing streak, tied for the longest in American League history. Of course two streaks that account for 35 losses will contribute to them being the worst team in the league by winning percentage.
But if you were to eliminate both those losing streaks, yes, 35 losses, the White Sox would still have the lowest winning percentage in the league. It wouldn't be particularly close either. They would still be about 5 percent behind the Rockies even if these 35 games were wiped off their record.
Record wise, they sit 15 games behind the Rockies for the second worst team in the league. They're 13 percent behind in win percentage which is hard to even fathom at this point. The difference in winning percentage between the Rockies and the last place White Sox is the same difference between the first place Baltimore Orioles and the struggling Detroit Tigers.
They're approaching an unfathomable level of bad that we haven't seen in this lifetime. Not even the Orioles or the Astros reached a low like this in their rebuilds.
1. 197 different pitchers have recorded a win since the last time the White Sox did
Out of all the stats in White Sox history, this one might take the cake for me. It's such a ridiculous stat that it doesn't even seem real to me. Let's look at it.
197 different pitchers have recorded a big league win since the last time the White Sox won a game. What????
197 is such a ridiculously large number of pitchers to have recorded a win over this historic losing streak. Don't believe me? I challenge you to sit down and try to name 197 active pitchers in the league right now. It would certainly be a brain-breaking task.
Some quick math (13 pitchers per team multiplied by 30 teams) tells me there's somewhere between 375 and 400 active pitchers in the league at any given time. Considering 13 or so of them play for the White Sox, they certainly haven't recorded a win recently. That means that over 50 percent of the active pitchers have recorded wins since the last time a White Sox pitcher recorded one.
I guess it makes sense why Garrett Crochet has a 6-8 win-loss record despite being a dominant All-Star.