Category / Baseball

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Losing 14 Again

The White Sox tied their franchise record for consecutive losses in a single season yesterday, dropping their second straight game to the Mariners by the score of 6-3 for their fourteenth straight defeat.  Over the course of their 125-year history, the franchise’s previous fourteen game losing streak came less than two months ago.

The overall team record is fifteen straight losses, which happened with five losses to end of the 1967 season followed by another ten straight to start the 1968 season.  The 2024 incarnation will attempt to avoid tying this mark tonight, as the Royals come to town for a three-game series.

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Buying, Not Selling

The Cubs, who are a mere percentage point out of last place in the NL Central as of this moment, should, by all rights, be selling off as we approach the trade deadline, are instead stocking up on major league assets.  They struck this afternoon, acquiring Isaac Paredes from the Rays in exchange for Christopher Morel, Hunter Bigge, and Ty Johnson.

Morel has supplied many big moments over the past two seasons but has struggled to turn those moments into sustained success.  Paredes, who originally signed with the Cubs as an amateur in 2015, made his first All Star team this year and is still under team control for three more years, which means this is likely a move for 2025 and beyond rather than an expectation that the Cubs will jump back into contention this year.

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Tragic Number 13 (Again!)

For the second time this season, the White Sox lost their thirteenth consecutive game, dropping last night’s contest against the Mariners 6-3.  This is the first time in franchise history that they have had multiple ten-game or more losing streaks in the same season.  Prior to this year, the only previous single season thirteen game losing streak came 100 years ago in August of 1924, a season they finished 66-87.  The 2024 White Sox have already lost 80 games.

The current losing streak comes amidst a July featuring of 18 losses in their 21 games.  They will look to avoid tying the franchise record for consecutive losses in a single season, set last month, this afternoon against those same Mariners.

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Looking Ahead To 2025

Last week, on the extra off day in the All-Star break, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2025 schedule while I was away in Amsterdam.  For the third year in a row, MLB is keeping with a balanced schedule, playing 52 games against division opponents, 64 games against non-division opponents in the same league, and 46 interleague games, with series against every team in the opposite league.  With the White Sox about to cement the worst season in franchise history and the Cubs trying to figure out what went wrong on their way back to contention, the 2025 season looks like it could be a long one for the city of Chicago.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox celebrate the 125th anniversary of the franchise, opening their season on March 27 at home against the Angels, kicking off a six-game homestand that also features the Twins.  They will make their first visit to Sacramento, the new home of the A’s, in the last weekend of April.

The interleague schedule sees the Phillies, Marlins, Cardinals, Brewers, Diamondbacks, and Padres coming to Guaranteed Rate Field, while the White Sox will go on the road to face the Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Rockies, and Nationals.  The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a three-game weekend series at Wrigley Field in mid-May followed by another weekend at Guaranteed Rate Field the last weekend in July.

After wrapping up the home portion of the schedule in mid-September against the Orioles and Padres, the White Sox wrap up the 2025 season on the east coast, battling the Yankees and the Nationals to finish up the year.

On the north side, the Cubs head to Japan to open their season on March 18 with a two-game tilt against the Dodgers in Tokyo.  They return to the US to face the Diamondbacks on March 27 before heading to Sacramento for the first time to face the A’s.  They open up the home portion of the 2025 season on April 4 against the Padres.

Aside from the A’s, the Cubs will head out on the road to face the Twins, Angels, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Tigers, while the Mariners, Orioles, Guardians, Red Sox, and Royals will be coming to Wrigley Field.

Only ten of their 25 games in September are against their NL Central rivals, which could make a difference should the Cubs find themselves in contention.  They end the year with a six-game homestand, facing the Mets and the Cardinals.

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Hall Of Fame Batting Leaders



The Hall of Fame Class of 2024, Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, Joe Mauer, and veterans committee choice Jim Leyland, get enshrined in Cooperstown today.  With three new hitters joining the list of Hall of Famers I’ve seen play live, let’s check back in with the leaders on the offensive side of the ball amongst Hall of Famers for all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2023.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 35
Frank Thomas 15
Scott Rolen 7
David Ortiz 6
Vladimir Guerrero 6

Hits

Name Total
Jim Thome 110
Frank Thomas 54
Joe Mauer 43
Ken Griffey Jr. 32
Fred McGriff 28

Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 82
Frank Thomas 42
Joe Mauer 19
David Ortiz 16
Scott Rolen 14

RBI

Name Total
Jim Thome 84
Frank Thomas 38
Fred McGriff 23
David Ortiz 19
Continue reading →
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2024 All Star Break Pitching Leaders

The long slog known as the second half of the season kicks off tomorrow, so let’s finish off our look back at the 18 games I attended in the first half with the leaders on the defensive side, beginning with everyone’s favorite pitching stat:

Wins

Name Total
Erick Fedde 2
16 tied with 1

Losses

Name Total
Garret Crochet 2
Michael Kopech 2
Michael Soroka 2
Steven Wilson 2
Jake Woodford 2

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Dylan Cease 0.00
Justin Anderson 1.42
Erick Fedde 1.78
Chris Flexen 2.45
Tanner Houck 2.57

Strikeouts

Name Total
Garret Crochet 34
Continue reading →
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2024 All Star Break Batting Leaders

With the All-Star Game in the books and a few days of rest before the second half kicks off, let’s take a look at the first half offensive leaders for the 18 games I’ve attended so far this season, starting with:

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul DeJong 4
Luis Robert 2
Andrew Vaughn 2
Gavin Sheets 2
25 tied with  1

Hits

Name Total
Paul DeJong 14
Andrew Vaughn 14
Gavin Sheets 13
Nicky Lopez 10
Luis Robert 8
Eloy Jimenez 8

Runs

Name Total
Andrew Vaughn 8
Gavin Sheets 8
Continue reading →
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2024 All Star Break Standings

For just the second time, the Midsummer Classic lands in Arlington, Texas.  As the stars of the baseball world gather at Globe Life Field for tonight’s showdown, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 18 games, featuring 60% of the teams in the league, that I attended in the first half of the baseball season, a disappointing one on both sides of town.

2024 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Detroit Tigers 1 0 1.000
Baltimore Orioles 1 0 1.000
Cincinnati Reds 1 0 1.000
Cleveland Guardians 1 0 1.000
Toronto Blue Jays 1 0 1.000
Houston Astros 1 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 0 1.000
Pittsburgh Pirates 1 0 1.000
San Diego Padres 1 0 1.000
Chicago Cubs 2 1 0.667
Boston Red Sox 2 1 0.667
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Chicago White Sox 4 12 0.250
Atlanta Braves 0 1 0.000
Tampa Bay Rays 0 1 0.000
Colorado Rockies 0 1 0.000
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A Half Of Futility

As the 2024 season reaches its midway point, the White Sox are a wretched 21-60.  Assuming they replicate this effort in the second half, they would finish 42-120, which would be the worst season in franchise history and one of the worst in MLB history.  But, with the trade deadline fast approaching on July 30, anyone playing well will likely be shipped off to a contender, making the White Sox even worse down the stretch.

The worst team in White Sox history is, depending on your definition, the 1970 squad, which lost 106 games, or the 1932 team, who lost “only” 102 games but, due to the shorter season, had a lower winning percentage at .325.  The current pace of the 2024 team would blow both of those records away.

Post-1900, the high-level mark for losses in a single season is 120, reached by the expansion Mets in 1962.  The 1916 Philadelphia A’s managed a .235 winning percentage, holding the futility mark in that regard.  The 2024 White Sox currently have a .259 winning percentage, so they do have some breathing room, but not a whole lot.

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Say Hey

Last night, during the slate of games on the night’s schedule, the Giants issued a statement that Willie Mays, the 93-year-old Hall of Famer, had passed away earlier in the day.  The 24-time All Star spent 23 seasons in the majors, batting .301 with 660 home runs, 339 stolen bases and 3,293 hits.  He won only two MVP awards, despite leading the NL in WAR nine times.

Mays began his career in the Negro Leagues, when he was just 16.  He played with the Birmingham Black Barons for three seasons, prior to joining the Giants, and was originally scheduled to appear at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, the same stadium he played in 75 years earlier, along with the Giants this week to honor the legacy of the Negro Leagues, but he announced he would not attend late last week.

Both local teams were home and playing last night, with the Cubs hosting the Giants and the White Sox, with Mays’ former teammate Steve Stone in the booth, hosting the Astros.  The Cubs held a moment of silence between innings, the first notification some of the Giants starters, including pitcher Logan Webb, had that Mays had passed.  On the White Sox broadcast, Stone told stories of his time as a young rookie pitching with the Hall of Fame center fielder behind him.

Mays leaves behind a tremendous legacy, not just in New York and San Francisco, where he starred for those 23 seasons, but across all of baseball.  The Say Hey Kid may now be gone, but his spirit lives on and he will never be forgotten.