How Bad Can a Baseball Season Get?
White Sox Challenge Record of 1916 Philadelphia A’s For Futility
Here in Chicago, we’re in the midst of a stunningly bad baseball season. The Cubs, who came into the season with high expectations, find themselves in last place, proving that signing an eight million-dollar-a-year manager can’t compensate for grossly overvaluing your talent. Starting a season without a legitimate closer has proven to be a disaster with 21 blown saves already.
But things are absolutely rosy for the Cubs compared to the nightmare unfolding on the South Side of town. This could end in a historically bad season for the White Sox with many records for ineptitude well within sight. The Sox are cruising along at a 27-86 clip, (.239), 41.5 games behind the division-leading Cleveland.
Coming off a 3-22 July, they find themselves currently mired in a franchise-worst nineteen-game losing streak. They haven’t won a game since July 10, and their offense is last in runs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Plus, their bullpen has blown a major-league-leading 27 saves.
Unlike the Cubs, the 2024 season held little promise for the White Sox. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf was quoted as saying that 2023, in which the White Sox finished at 61-101, was the worst in his 43 years in baseball, calling it “an absolute nightmare.” Little did Jerry realize at the time that 2024 would be even worse…much worse!
My Baseball History Alarm Bells Are Going Off!
The White Sox performance thus far unfortunately calls to mind some dubious records that are well within their reach: the 1962 Mets record for the most losses ever (120); the 1961 Phillies record of 23 losses in a row; and the 1916 Athletics record for the lowest winning percentage (.235) in the modern era [Ed. note: the 1899 Cleveland Spiders went 20-134 .130 for the all-time record].
The 1962 Mets still get a lot of notoriety for their 120 losses, but, being an expansion team, they at least had a legitimate excuse for their ineptitude. But not much attention is given to the 1916 Athletics, who many historians characterize as the worst team ever with a 37-117-1 finish. Let’s take a closer look at this historically bad team.
[Click on this link if you’d like to read more about the 1916 A’s and see a photo gallery from their glory years of 1910-1914:
