The White Sox made the wrong kind of history on Sunday. With their 11-4 loss to the Reds, the team fell to 2-13 on the season, which is the worst start to their season over their entire 124-year history, through 15 games.
The previous worst start to a season was the 1968 squad’s 2-12 record through 14 games, which the current White Sox matched on Saturday. The 1968 White Sox managed to win their 15th game, however.
Expectations were low for the White Sox heading into the year after the team traded star pitcher Dylan Cease to the Padres. Since then, injuries to hitters Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jiménez and Yoán Moncada have tanked the offense.
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The White Sox have nobody hitting .300 or better this year. As a team, they’re hitting .202, which is (somehow) 28th out of 30 MLB teams. Their 2.27 runs scored per game is dead last. The pitching has been marginally better this year. As a full staff, the 4.97 ERA ranks 25th in MLB. Their 5.67 runs allowed per game is 28th in the game.
The White Sox have already been shut out five times and given up 10+ runs three times. Over the small sample size this year, they’re on pace to win 21 games. That would be significantly worse than the 2003 Tigers’ 43-119 record, which is the current worst mark in MLB history for a 162-game season. Their current .133 win percent is just a touch ahead of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders’ .130 mark, which is the worst win percent over the course of a season in MLB history.