White Sox eliminated from MLB playoff contention, breaking record for earliest in wild-card or divisional era

The White Sox are on pace to lose 123 games

By R.J. Anderson Aug 18, 2024 at 9:26 am ET• 1 min read

The Chicago White Sox, already secure in their standing as one of the worst teams in modern Major League Baseball history, suffered another indignity on Saturday by recording the earliest mathematical elimination from postseason contention in either the wild-card or divisional era. (That is, to put an exact timeframe on it, since 1969.) The White Sox bested the previous record, which belonged to the 2018 Baltimore Orioles, by three days, according to former MLB Network researcher Jessica Brand.

The White Sox clinched the achievement after dropping a 6-1 contest to the Houston Astros, dropping their seasonal record to 30-94. Whereas those 2018 Orioles finished the year with a 47-115 mark, these White Sox are on pace to lose 123 games. The modern record for the most losses in a single season is 120, established by the expansion New York Mets in 1962. No other team has lost as many as 120, and only four other clubs have dared to lose as many as 115 games.

The math on Chicago's elimination is straightforward. The White Sox exited Saturday 38 1/2 games back of both the American League Central and final wild-card spot with 38 games left to play.

As our Dayn Perry recently noted, these White Sox also have the opportunity (if one can describe it as such) to establish the worst winning percentage in modern history. Chicago enters Sunday having won 24.2% of its games; for reference, only the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, who went 36-117, won a lower percentage.