The 2024 Chicago White Sox are one of the worst teams in recent memory. They have lost 20 straight games and have a record of 27-87. With a little less than a third of the season to go, the White Sox are 60 games under .500. This season has been a nightmare, and the White Sox now have a losing streak that ranks right up there with the all-time worst losing streaks in baseball.
In the history of Major League Baseball, 11 teams had lost 20 consecutive games before Aug. 3, 2024. On Aug. 4, the White Sox became the twelfth team to lose 20 games in a row when they lost 13-7 against the Minnesota Twins. The Twins’ loss was Chicago’s first in this historic losing streak and the twentieth overall.
This ties the White Sox for the seventh-longest losing streak of all time. It is a six-way tie between the 2024 White Sox, 1969 Montreal Expos, 1943 Philadelphia Athletics, 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, 1906 Boston Americans, and 1894 Louisville Colonels. The White Sox are the first team to lose 20 straight games in 55 years.
Four of the top six longest-losing streaks happened before the year 1900. The two that did not were the 1988 Baltimore Orioles and 1961 Philadelphia Phillies. Baltimore won the World Series in 1983 and, only five seasons later, was the worst team in baseball. They lost 21 consecutive games, good for sixth all-time, despite having Hall of Famers like Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. on the roster. The 1961 Phillies are tied for third all-time in losing streaks, as they lost 23 straight games in a season where they only won 47 out of 155 games.
In 1890, the Philadelphia Athletics lost 22 games in a row, good for fifth all-time. They finished the year 54-78 and could have lost even more games if the franchise did not fold after losing their twenty-second game.
In that same year in the same state, the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys lost 23 games in a row, tied for third all-time. The franchise that became the Pirates was in its third season and finished with a record of 23-113-2.
The second-longest losing streak ever belongs to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. The Spiders finished 20-134, with a winning percentage of 12.9%. One of the worst teams ever, the lowest ERA of a full-time pitcher, was Jim Hughey, who had a 4-30 record and a 5.41 ERA.
However, the longest losing streak in history belongs to the 1889 Louisville Colonels. The Colonels franchise has a tie for the longest losing streak. The Colonels were 27-111 and had four different managers throughout the season. Surprisingly, they had better individual statistics than a couple of other teams on this list, but nonetheless, they own the longest losing streak in the history of Major League Baseball.
The 1962 Mets have the most losses in a season, with a record of 40-120-1 since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. The Mets were in their first year as an MLB franchise, and the Spiders were in their last year. To compare the 1962 Mets and the 2024 White Sox, the most consecutive games the Mets lost was 13 in a row. The Mets were an expansion franchise that had to build their team from scratch in the expansion draft and signing free agents. The White Sox won the American League Central in 2021 and have lost seven more games in a row than the expansion Mets.
The 2018 Orioles and 2019 Tigers both finished with 47 wins, the fewest wins in a season in the last 20 years. The 2002 Tigers have the worst record since the 1962 Mets, finishing 43-119 with a winning percentage of .265. The 2024 White Sox currently have a winning percentage of .236 and are on pace for 38 wins, the fewest wins in a Major League season since the 1935 Boston Braves, who were 38-115.
Pedro Grifol, the manager of the White Sox, was hired for his first MLB head managerial position on Nov. 1, 2022. Since then, he has managed 276 games for the White Sox and has only had a team over .500 once. That was when the White Sox won on opening day of 2023, beating the Houston Astros 3-2 to have a record of 1-0. They have not had a winning record since.
Only two managers in MLB history have managed at least 200 games for the same team and have a winning percentage under .333: Pedro Grifol and Doctor James Prothro, a licensed dentist who managed the Phillies from 1939-1941, when many players were serving in World War Two.
The Chicago White Sox are one of the worst teams in recent memory, and this active losing streak of 20+ could even end up higher than the seventh-longest losing streak of all time.
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WBN MLB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/mlb/
Photo Credit: Nicky Lopez #8 of the Chicago White Sox reacts to a loss against the Minnesota Twins after the game at Target Field on August 04, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The White Sox have lost 20 games in a row. The Twins defeated the White Sox 13-7. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
