Tag / Red Sox

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2024 Final Standings

A hugely disappointing season came to an end this weekend, once again leaving both Chicago teams home for October.  The Cubs planned on being a playoff contender this year after poaching manager Craig Counsell from the Brewers but failed to put it all together.  The White Sox, on the other hand, put together an absolutely horrific performance, setting the modern MLB record for most losses in a season and notching the sixth time in franchise history that they’ve lost 100 or more games.  Because of this, I ended up attending just 27 games, my lowest total since becoming a season ticket holder in 2002.  All told, I managed to see 20 of the 30 teams.

2024 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Detroit Tigers 4 0 1.000
Baltimore Orioles 1 0 1.000
Cincinnati Reds 1 0 1.000
Cleveland Guardians 1 0 1.000
Houston Astros 1 0 1.000
Toronto Blue Jays 1 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 0 1.000
New York Mets 1 0 1.000
Pittsburgh Pirates 1 0 1.000
San Diego Padres 1 0 1.000
Seattle Mariners 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 2 1 0.667
Chicago Cubs 3 2 0.600
Oakland Athletics 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Chicago White Sox 6 18 0.250
Los Angeles Angels 0 1 0.000
Atlanta Braves 0 1 0.000
Colorado Rockies 0 1 0.000
Tampa Bay Rays 0 1 0.000
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T Minus 9

Following last night’s loss to the Red Sox, the White Sox now have 111 loses. just nine away from the modern record set by the expansion Mets in 1962.  They would have to go 11-8 over their remaining 19 games to avoid tying the record.  They have won eleven games since June 22.

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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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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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FB10: Week 21

A warm and expensive week saw things fall off a little bit.  Things got off to a good start on Sunday thanks to a trip to see the White Sox battle the Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, which gave me 5100 steps.  Things went down a bit on Monday, falling to 3500 steps.  A small increase on Tuesday left me 23 steps away from 3800.  A broken air conditioner and 90-degree temps on Wednesday put me a single step shy of 5000.  31 additional steps on Thursday would have given me 4800, as I monitored the goings on of the new AC install.  A break in the weather, and another day of AC installation, led to needing 30 more steps to get to 4200.  Things went sideways on Saturday, ending the week on a down note with exactly 2900 steps.

Total steps: 29,419

Daily average: 4202.7

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It’s Over

With 2005 World Series champion Mark Buehrle in attendance, the White Sox snapped their franchise-record losing streak last night at fourteen games, defeating the Red Sox 7-2.  Of course, they couldn’t do it easily and ran into some interesting moments along the way.

Garrett Crochet had little problems with the Red Sox, save for the third inning.  Two botched throws to first, one on a comebacker and the second on an appeal, gave the Red Sox the lead.

With the White Sox at bat in the bottom of the fourth, play was paused after a number of mini liquor bottles were thrown onto field.  The Sox were able to handle their liquor issues and plate three runs to take a two-run lead.

Finally, with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, the streak looked as it was about to fall.  A lazy flyball to left field seemed poised to end the game.  Unfortunately for everyone, rookie Duke Ellis, called up earlier in the week for his first taste of major league experience, booted it, extending the festivities.  The next batter, though, grounded out and the losing streak had finally, mercifully, come to an end.

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Call Your Sons, Call Your Daughters

Embattled rookie play-by-play man John Schriffen kicked off last night’s broadcast with a prediction.  “I feel good,” he said during the open.  “Tonight is the night the losing streak comes to an end.”  Two pitches into the game, the White Sox were trailing 1-0.  It did not get better from there.

When the damage was done, the White Sox fell to the Red Sox 14-2, setting a single-season franchise record with their fourteenth consecutive loss.  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.

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Tragic Number 13

After blowing a 5-1 lead for the second consecutive night against their crosstown rivals, the White Sox tied a single season franchise record last night with their thirteenth consecutive loss.  The previous thirteen-game losing streak occurred in August of 1924, a season in which they finished 66-87.

This year’s version of the White Sox have lost 17 of their last 18 games en route to their worst start in franchise history.  They will try to stop the bleeding tonight at home against the Red Sox.

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End Of The Road?

Five years ago, expectations were high as the fruits of the White Sox rebuild were starting to pay dividends and the team, looking to contend for years to come, inked third baseman Yoan Moncada to a five-year extension.  Through an interpreter, Moncada said, “With all this happening, I can say I’m going to play alongside (left fielder) Eloy (Jimenez) and (center fielder) Luis Robert for a very long time, and that’s going to be a key for the success of this team.”  Since that time, the White Sox have played 557 games.  Jimenez, Robert, and Moncada have played together in just 161 of them.

Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert were already on the IL with leg injuries when Yoan Moncada came up lame while running to first base during the second inning of Tuesday’s contest against the Guardians.  He was diagnosed with a left abductor strain, which is expected to keep him on the shelf for 3-6 months, likely ending his White Sox career.  That contract extension, signed days before the global pandemic shut down spring training in 2020, is up after this season and the White Sox seem unlikely to exercise the $25 million option for 2025.

Moncada, who was part of the haul received from the Red Sox in the Chris Sale deal that kicked off the last rebuild, was ranked as the #1 prospect in all of baseball.  After some initial struggles, he seemed to turn the corner in 2019, hitting .315 with 25 home runs and 79 RBIs, but that has been the high point of his career.  A bout with COVID knocked his 2020 season off course, and injuries have been a constant concern ever since.  Will he ever take the field in a White Sox uniform again?  If he does, it will be to play out the string in what was going to be a long, arduous season even if everything went right.

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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 →