CHICAGO – It appeared the Chicago White Sox just might get a break from all this losing the way Garrett Crochet was striking out one batter after another at the start.
Then again, these are the White Sox. And in a season full of indignities, they added another to the list — a franchise record for losses in one season.
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The number hit 107 when the New York Mets beat them 2-0 on Sunday. And at the rate they're going, the White Sox remain on course to shatter baseball's modern-era mark.
“There's no sense in harping over the record right now,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said before the game. “Our job right now is to try to get a win today. We're trying to just improve on every day and get better as each series goes on. My message has been the same since I got here. It's not about the record. It's not about wins. It's just about competing and playing together as a team.”
Chicago (31-107) broke the club mark for losses set by the 1970 team. The White Sox also completed the first 0-10 homestand in franchise history, becoming the first team since the 1965 Mets to have three 10-game losing streaks in one season.
The White Sox need to go 12-12 the rest of the way to avoid matching the expansion 1962 Mets (40-120-1) for the most losses by a team since 1900. That seems like a stretch, with Chicago on pace to finish 36-126. On a more positive note, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders' overall record of 134 losses is safe.
The remaining schedule is a mixed bag for Chicago, starting with a tough three-game series at Baltimore before heading to Boston. It also includes three games at home against AL Central leader Cleveland from Sept. 9-11 and at San Diego from Sept. 20-22.
Getting out of town might not be a bad thing for the White Sox. They've lost 12 straight at Guaranteed Rate Field, matching a season high. Their worst homestand prior to the one they just completed was when they went 0-7 from May 23-29.
“There’s not really a perspective to put into it at this point,” Crochet said. "It sucks to say that we’ve been here before and we’ve dug ourselves out of it with a win. We just continue to come to the field every day fighting and playing a good brand of baseball.”
Crochet, one of Chicago’s few bright spots, tied an American League record Sunday by striking out the first seven batters and whiffed eight in all over 3 1/3 innings. The All-Star left-hander gave up one run and three hits without a walk. The White Sox are limiting Crochet’s workload because he missed most of the past two seasons following Tommy John surgery and was a reliever before that.
Other than that, it's hard to find positives for this team.
Chicago has been shut out 15 times and been on the wrong end of 22 series sweeps — by far the most in the majors — after the Mets took all three games. The White Sox are 4-36 since the All-Star break and 3-18 under Sizemore.
Chicago fired manager Pedro Grifol three weeks ago, just a few days after the team ended a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record. Grifol was in the middle of his second season as a major league manager after a long career in the game, lugging an 89-190 record. The White Sox also had a 14-game losing streak from May 22 to June 6 that was a team record until that 21-game slide from July 10 to Aug. 5.
Things are so bad the White Sox announced last month they're cutting season-ticket prices for 2025 by an average of 10%. But it's not just this year. They have been in a sharp decline since making the playoffs in 2020 and 2021.
The White Sox went 61-101 last season for their worst finish since going 56-106 in 1970, firing top executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn along the way and promoting Chris Getz to general manager.
“I think it’s more just having the same mindset you have when you’re on a winning streak,” Crochet said. "You’ve got to just keep playing good baseball.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb