With a week left to go in August, the White Sox dropped their 100th game this afternoon, losing to the Tigers 9-4. They are now just the fourth team, and the third in modern history, to lose their 100th game prior to September 1st. They are also just 20 losses away from tying the modern single season record with 31 games to play. 2004 is just the sixth 100-loss season in franchise history, but the third in the last seven years.
Tag / Tigers
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.
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 |
Heading To Vegas… Via Sacramento
Last November, MLB owners approved the relocation of the A’s from Oakland to Las Vegas, where the team hopes to have a stadium built by the 2028 season. A fine plan all around, except that the team’s current lease in Oakland expires after this season, leaving them in a bit of a bind for the 2025-2027 seasons. After failing to reach a deal with Oakland for an extension, the Sacramento Kings announced today that the A’s will play the next three seasons in Sacramento.
Sutter Health Park, the current home of the Sacramento River Cats of the Pacific Coast League, will house the A’s for through the 2027 season, with an option for 2028. The River Cats are expected to continue to use the stadium as well, which I’m sure will cause no scheduling issues whatsoever.
The move will end the team’s stay in Oakland at 57 seasons, after previously calling Philadelphia and Kansas City home. Assuming they ever make it to Vegas, and that seems less likely now than it did in November, the A’s will become the first franchise to have played in five different municipalities while using the same name. On a personal note, removing Oakland Coliseum from my active stadium count means I would now have eleven parks to get to in order to finish off the set. I’ve made two trips to the stadium once known as Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, first in 1999 and again in 2008, seeing the Tigers and Orioles respectively.
All Time Team Records
After a long, disappointing winter, the 2024 baseball season is set to get underway tomorrow. To celebrate, it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have identified as having attended dating back to 1984. Last year, I tied 2011 for my eleventh highest game total of all time, an increase of ten games from the year before, and managed to see 21 out of the 30 teams, so there should be some nice changes.
The White Sox just may be worse this year following a disappointing 2023, with new general manager Chris Getz treading water by bringing in defensive upgrades who can’t hit their way out of a paper bag. On the other side of town, the Cubs brought in Craig Counsell to push a team that overachieved back into playoff contention but didn’t do a whole lot to improve the roster to help him do so. The 2024 season may just be a maddening year on both sides of town.
All-Time Team Records
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Angels | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 16 | 4 | 0.800 |
| Florida Marlins | 15 | 8 | 0.652 |
| New York Yankees | 19 | 12 | 0.613 |
| Colorado Rockies | 11 | 7 | 0.611 |
| Cleveland Guardians | 3 | 2 | 0.600 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 13 | 9 | 0.591 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 17 | 12 | 0.586 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 20 | 15 | 0.571 |
| Boston Red Sox | 19 | 15 | 0.559 |
| Washington Nationals | 7 | 6 | 0.538 |
| Cleveland Indians | 31 | 27 | 0.534 |
| Chicago Cubs | 235 | 213 | 0.525 |
| Chicago White Sox | 366 | 342 | 0.517 Continue reading → |
A Spring Training Surprise
When Chris Getz didn’t get the deal he was looking for during the offseason, it seemed pretty likely that Dylan Cease would start the 2024 season with the White Sox. That plan changed last night, when the right hander was shipped off to the Padres. In return, the White Sox are receiving right handed pitchers Drew Thorpe, Jairo Irairte, and Steven Wilson and outfielder Samuel Zavala.
Thorpe, a 23-year-old ranked as the 85th top prospect in MLB, has now been traded twice in the past four months after being acquired by the Padres in December as part of the return in the Juan Soto trade. He posted a 2.52 ERA across 23 starts in High A and Double A for the Yankees in 2023. Iriarte, the #8 prospect in the Padres system at 22, appeared in 27 games last season, starting 21, and finished with a 3.49 ERA between High A and Double A.
Ranked as the #7 prospect in the Padres system, Zavala, who is just 18, has three seasons of pro experience, splitting 2023 between Low and High A ball. In 115 games, he hit 14 homers and 23 doubles, while knocking in 77 RBIs and drawing 94 walks, and slashing .243/.391/.406. Wilson, 29, has made 102 appearances with the Padres over the past two seasons, posting a 3.48 ERA with 110 strikeouts over 106 innings.
Dylan Cease was first acquired by the White Sox, along with Eloy Jimenez, in the 2017 trade that sent Jose Quintana to the Cubs. He made his major league debut on July 3, 2019, picking up the victory in the first game of a double header against the Tigers. Since that day, Cease has been a consistent part of the starting rotation, eventually becoming the ace of the staff. In 2022, he went 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA, finishing second in Cy Young award voting.
Cease’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →
A New Voice
On Thursday, the White Sox announced that John Schriffen, a 39-year-old from New York, had signed a multi-year deal to become the team’s new television play-by-play announcer. He replaces Jason Benetti, who, due to growing frustrations with the White Sox front office, left in November to fill the same role with the Tigers after seven years in the White Sox booth. Schriffen, who is biracial, becomes the second Black television play-by-play announcer in MLB, joining Dave Sims of the Mariners.
This will mark Schriffen’s first play-by-play assignment for a team, he has broadcast Korean baseball for ESPN during the pandemic and has done some MLB work for ESPN Radio. His other work at ESPN includes college basketball, college football, college baseball, the XFL, NBA preseason, G-League and Summer League. After multiple interviews, he met with team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and color analyst Steve Stone this past weekend in Arizona for a final audition. “We hit it off immediately,” Schriffen said. “Everybody knows Steve Stone is the greatest. He has done everything in baseball broadcasting – the dude is a legend.”
Heading To Vegas
Earlier today, MLB owners, in a unanimous vote, approved the relocation of the A’s from Oakland to Las Vegas. Earlier this year, the team signed a binding agreement to purchase 49 acres of land off the strip in Las Vegas, where they now hope to have a stadium built by and ready by the 2028 season.
However, that puts the team in a bit of a bind for the 2025-2027 seasons. The team’s current lease in Oakland expires after next season. Nothing has been decided as of yet, but rumors have them splitting time between the existing Triple A stadium in Las Vegas and/or Sacramento, across the bay at Oracle Park, and the Coliseum. The city of Oakland says they are open to the team continuing to play at the Coliseum, as long as certain conditions are met. What those conditions are remain to be seen, but, in the past, the mayor has asked that that A’s team name and history remain in Oakland for a future expansion team.
Assuming the team name remains the same, the A’s will become the first franchise to have played in four different municipalities while using the same name, starting in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City, Oakland, and now Las Vegas. On a personal note, removing Oakland Coliseum from my active stadium count means I would now have eleven parks to get to in order to finish off the set. I’ve made two trips to the stadium once known as Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, first in 1999 and again in 2008, seeing the Tigers and Orioles respectively.
You’ve Gotta Be Bleepin’ Me
Just when you think things can’t get any worse in White Sox Nation, the Tigers announced yesterday that they were poaching play-by-play man Jason Benetti, signing the announcer to a multi-year deal. Benetti, 40, started with the White Sox in 2016, splitting time with Ken Harrelson until 2019 when he took over full time.
Benetti’s frustration with the White Sox organization has seemingly been growing for some time. In 2021, he was a loud voice in favor of returning to broadcasting from the road instead of in studio following the pandemic shutdowns of 2020. Things got testy again this past offseason, when he left ESPN for FOX and took on more national responsibilities, which irked some in the White Sox front office. To add fuel to that fire, the White Sox refused to negotiate with Benetti’s agent, preferring instead to deal directly with Benetti, which is, frankly, odd behavior.
Whoever replaces Benetti in the broadcast booth will have very large shoes to fill. They will also need to win over a fan base that has been repeatedly poked in the eye by the ownership and front office of their favorite team for the last two years.
2023 Final Standings
A disappointing season on both sides of town came to an end this weekend, leaving both Chicago teams home for October. The Cubs looked like a lock for a Wild Card spot heading into September, and even were holding on to the last spot within the past week, but managed to squander their lead. The White Sox, on the other hand, managed to lose 100 or more games for just the fifth time in franchise history. Despite all this, I ended up attending 43 games, tied with 2011 for my eleventh highest total of all time. I only managed to add one new stadium, bringing my total up to 28. All told, I managed to see 21 of the 30 teams.
2023 Team Records
| Team Name | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Blue Jays | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| San Diego Padres | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Miami Marlins | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Chicago Cubs | 9 | 2 | 0.818 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 2 | 1 | 0.667 |
| Seattle Mariners | 2 | 2 | 0.500 |
| San Francisco Giants | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Oakland Athletics | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Detroit Tigers | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Cleveland Guardians | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Chicago White Sox | 15 | 21 | 0.417 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks Continue reading → |