2024-09-25 18:25:04
CHICAGO (WLS) — History wasn’t made at Guaranteed Rate Field Tuesday night as the White Sox avoided breaking a record for most losses in a season by beating the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.
After being down the entire game, the Sox rallied in the eighth inning to pull ahead by one run and win the game.
The Sox must win the next five games, which seems like a difficult task, to avoid becoming the worst MLB team in modern history.
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Despite the Sox possibly ending up on the wrong side of history, the excitement inside Guaranteed Rate Field, even with the many empty seats, is unmistakable.
“They don’t seem to have given up. They’ve been in almost every game they’ve lost,” said fan Richard Hummel.
“Well, because, I believe in the Sox and as Casey Stengel said when the Mets lost 120 games, ‘I couldn’t have done it without them,'” said fan James Connely.
The White Sox had never lost more than 106 games in a season before. They surpassed the mark set by the 1970 team with plenty of time to spare when the New York Mets beat them on Sept. 1, and they just continued to stumble along from there.
Chicago has endured losing streaks of 14, 21 and 12 games. The 14-game slide from May 22 to June 6 was a franchise record until the White Sox matched an AL mark by dropping 21 in a row from July 10 to Aug. 5.
Most baseball experts expected the Sox to be in a rebuilding mode this season, but very few would’ve expected this sort of record-setting futility.
The Sox currently have the worst season on record since the 1962 New York Mets with 120 losses. And while Sox fans were cheerful, that didn’t mean they felt good about their chances.
“It’s probably five out of 100,” said 10-year-old Madden Kavanaugh.
The Mets were a new expansion team when they set the loss record as opposed to the Sox – who have a long-storied history.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the major league record for losses at 20-134.
Experts say a lot had to go wrong to lose 120 games, including bad personnel decisions.
“It’s not something we’re proud of,” said General manager Chris Getz. “There’s a myriad of reasons why we stand here today with the record that we have. Now, with that being said, personally, I view this as a tremendous opportunity to build something.”
But win or lose, some fans still came out with unwavering support, donning their black and white with pride.
“We’re going into next season to win!” said fan David Malesky.
“Ride or die, I’m a Chicago fan no matter what,” said fan Michael Currey.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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