Current:Home > FinanceChicago White Sox lose record-breaking 121st game, 4-1 to playoff-bound Detroit Tigers -Capitatum
Chicago White Sox lose record-breaking 121st game, 4-1 to playoff-bound Detroit Tigers
SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-07 19:17:09
This story was updated to add new information.
The Chicago White Sox have officially become Major League Baseball's kings of futility.
With their 121st defeat of the season, the White Sox now stand alone as the losingest team in modern baseball history.
The record-breaker came Friday night in a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
White Sox ace Garrett Crochet kept the Tigers in check through four innings, but the dam finally broke in the fifth inning after he was lifted. Detroit got to reliever Jared Shuster and plated two to break a scoreless tie, and it was enough (though the Tigers added two more runs in the seventh for good measure). Zach DeLoach's solo home run in the sixth was the only run the White Sox could muster.
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
The loss breaks a tie with the 1962 New York Mets, who finished their inaugural season with a record of 40-120, prompting manager Casey Stengel to lament, "Can't anybody here play this game?"
The same question could also be posed of the 2024 White Sox.
Chicago (39-121) has endured losing streaks of 21, 14 and 12 games this season, with the longest of the streaks leading to the firing of manager Pedro Grifol in early August.
Avoiding baseball infamy wasn't part of the White Sox's plan either as they dealt away pitchers Erick Fedde and Michael Kopech, and outfielders Eloy Jimenez and Tommy Pham just before the July 30 trade deadline — further weakening the team on the field.
Entering Friday's game, the White Sox ranked last in the majors in scoring (3.1 runs per game), batting average (.221), on-base percentage (.279) and slugging (.340). Their pitchers also have the highest team ERA in the American League (4.71), trailing only the Miami Marlins (4.77) and Colorado Rockies (5.40) for the worst in the majors.
They fought off standing alone in infamy earlier this week, by sweeping the Los Angeles Angels, but couldn't avoid loss 121 on Friday night.
"Winning three in a row, maybe we could do something special and ride it out and ... think it’s maybe not going to happen," the White Sox's Gavin Sheets said after the game, per the Chicago Tribune's Daryl Van Schouwen. "And all of a sudden on the last out you’re on the wrong side of history. It hurt a little more than I expected it to."
While the White Sox were left licking their wounds Friday night, the Tigers celebrated a better kind of history: they secured their first playoff berth in 10 years. Bad news for the White Sox? They still have two more games this weekend to add to their record-setting loss total.
The one team the White Sox will not surpass, however, is the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who posted a record of 20-134, for a "winning" percentage of .130.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Costco sells $100 million in gold bars amid inflation fears
- Lawyers for Atlanta ask federal appeals court to kill ‘Stop Cop City’ petition seeking referendum
- How Eagles' Christmas album morphed from wild idea to hit record
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Pope Francis calls for global treaty to regulate artificial intelligence: We risk falling into the spiral of a technological dictatorship
- No charges for Mississippi police officer who shot unarmed 11-year-old Aderrien Murry
- Meet an artist teasing stunning art from the spaghetti on a plate of old maps
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Judge denies cattle industry’s request to temporarily halt wolf reintroduction in Colorado
Ranking
- Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
- Map shows where mysterious dog respiratory illness has spread in U.S.
- This organization fulfills holiday wish lists for kids in foster care – and keeps sending them gifts when they age out of the system
- Eggflation isn't over yet: Why experts say egg prices will be going up
- Plunge Into These Olympic Artistic Swimmers’ Hair and Makeup Secrets
- North Carolina high court says a gun-related crime can happen in any public space, not just highway
- No charges for Mississippi police officer who shot unarmed 11-year-old Aderrien Murry
- New York’s Metropolitan Museum will return stolen ancient sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand
Recommendation
Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
Atlanta: Woman killed in I-20 crash with construction vehicle
Delta adds flights to Austin, Texas, as airlines compete in emerging hub
Prince Harry wins phone hacking lawsuit against British tabloid publisher, awarded 140,000 pounds
Plunge Into These Olympic Artistic Swimmers’ Hair and Makeup Secrets
Lauren Graham Reveals If She Dated Any of Her Gilmore Girls Costars IRL
85-year-old man charged after stabbing wife over pancakes she made for him, DC prosecutors say
Iran says it has executed an Israeli Mossad spy