Yeah, at this point they should be reporting how many games under .250 they are, as under .500 is too difficult to even conceptualize.
Anyway, I’m a Cubs fan, and the fireworks show here at Sox Park was quite a treat after watching that sad sad baseball. Nice catch by the Mets right fielder going into the netting, though.
Outfielder Andrew Benintendi is a tiny bright spot right now; after hitting a Mario Mendoza-like .201 in the first half of the season, he’s finally heated up somewhat, and is hitting .271 in August (and had two of the Sox’s five total hits tonight). But, it’s way too little, too late, especially for a guy making $17.1 million this year.
The White Sox no longer have any average hitters on the roster. The only two hitters who have played for them this year with an OPS+ better than 100 are Tommy Pham, who was traded away, and Yoan Moncada, who’s on the 60-day IL. They’ve scored almost 100 runs fewer than the second-worst offense. I am pretty sure this is the worst offense in the live ball era.
37-125 pace still. Well, their win pace is 36.9.
Where he’s been since early April, in fact; he only has 39 at bats for the season, and last played on April 9th.
And, yet, even with that very small body of work for the year, he has the second-highest bWAR (0.3) of all Sox batters, behind only Luis Robert Jr. (0.7). The Sox only have four batters on the active roster with a postive bWAR: Robert, Brooks Baldwin (0.2), Dominic Fletcher (0.2), and Korey Lee (0.2).
Just to add another factoid, the White Sox have used 32 pitchers. Of those, only two have a W-L record better than even:
Erick Fedde (7-4), who doesn’t play for them anymore, and
Tim Hill (1-0), who also doesn’t play for them anymore.
And one more:
Paul DeJong leads them in home runs, with 18.
DeJong now plays for division rival Kansas City.
Against the Mets tonight, the Sox were down 3-0 before they even came up to bat. They never led, losing 5-3. Now at 31-106, and losers of nine straight.
Too late to edit: the Sox have now tied the franchise record for most losses in a season (106, in 1970). With a winning percentage of .226, they are now on pace for the lowest winning percentage in AL history – the current record is held by the 1916 Philadelphia A’s (.235).
I still have them winning more than 40 games, winding up in a netherworld of lousiness* without the fame they’d achieve by eclipsing the '62 Mets.
*having Cerberus for a mascot might be cool, though.
This is possible. Including today’s game with the Mets, they have 25 games remaining and obviously have to win 10 of the 25 to finish with 41 wins. But winning 40% of their remaining games would represent a vast improvement over the season thus far.
Their schedule is a mix of contenders and teams playing out the string. They have 3 games each with the Orioles, Red Sox, Guardians, and Padres. They also have 3 games with the A’s and Tigers, and six games with the Angels. They finish with series against the Angels and Tigers.
Well, another loss, bringing us to three 10 or more losing streaks in a season for the Sox. (Ten, fourteen, and twenty-one). I wonder if that is some sort of record.
Not sure, but it means that they are now in possession of the three longest losing streaks in MLB this season (though the 10-game streak is currently a tie with such a streak by Pittsburgh last month).
The Sox go on the road to Baltimore tomorrow, which doesn’t bode well for the latest losing streak ending soon, especially as the starting pitchers for Monday are slated to be Chris Flexen (2-13, and the Sox have lost 19 straight Flexen starts) against Corbin Burnes (12-7).
Today’s loss is especially bizarre since the White Sox starter, Crochet, opened the game with 7 straight strikeouts.
And, Crochet got the loss today, despite giving up only 3 hits and a run (via a home run) in 3 1/3 innings, along with 8 Ks. But, when your offense gives you zero support – the Sox only had two hits, and were shut out – all it takes is one bad pitch.
He’s likely the best player left on the Sox’s active roster, but he’s had a rough time of it in the last month. Over his last six starts, he’s 0-3, with a 6.43 ERA (though a lot of that was giving up 7 runs against the Cubs on August 9th).
The Sox actually won his last two starts prior to today, but Crochet wasn’t the pitcher of record in either game – he only pitched 4 innings each time, and thus, didn’t get the wins. He’s already pitched far more innings this season (132) than he ever had before, and it’s clear that, with the season a lost cause, while Sizemore is still willing to send him out there every fifth day, he’s not going to pitch for long.
Also for the record books - the first 0-10 homestand in franchise history.
Pretty fair attendance today at Guaranteed Loss Field - 16,887.
They had 18k yesterday and 15k on Friday. I could understand it if the Yankees were in town, but the Mets?
Well, it was a gorgeous day in Chicago: sunny, low humidity, 75 degrees. Perfect weather for a ballgame, even a stinky one.
It sure as hell didn’t feel like 15k on Friday. I’m always suspicious of these attendance numbers. I would have guessed more like 10 at best. 25% capacity feels about right. Maybe even only 20%.
Attendance is based on tickets sold, not used.
Things started off well as they immediately scored twice off Burnes, but they’ve lost the lead.