Tuesday marked the halfway point of the season for the Chicago White Sox.
The numbers have added up to a historically bad start.
At 21-60, the Sox are off to their worst 81-game start in franchise history (previously 27-54 in 1934 and 1948). They are tied with the 2023 Oakland Athletics for the second-worst start in the wild-card era (since 1994), behind the 2003 Detroit Tigers (20-61).
The Sox entered Wednesday’s series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers as the only team in the majors with a winning percentage under .300 (.259).
While there have been a few highlights — such as Garrett Crochet’s successful move from the bullpen to the rotation and the opportunity for prospects such as Drew Thorpe to gain major-league experience — the Sox find themselves well on pace for a second straight 100-plus loss season. They had 101 losses last season. The team’s record for losses in a season is 106 in 1970 (28-53 through 81 games).
“At times we don’t see the improvement we want to see and at times we do,” manager Pedro Grifol said before Wednesday’s game. “At times we see setbacks. And at times we see a lot of steps forward. It’s been inconsistent. Obviously our record is not where we want it to be. At times it’s painful. Just our record is painful.
“That’s kind of a summary of the first 81 games, we’ve got to improve the second 81 everywhere.”
Here are three more numbers that sum up the first 81 games of 2024 for the Sox.
11: games shut out
Miguel Rojas fielded Lenyn Sosa’s roller to shortstop and threw him out to wrap up the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory in Monday’s series opener. It marked the 11th time this season the Sox have been shut out.
They were blanked eight times in their first 22 games, the first time that had ever occurred in National League or American League history. The Sox were shut out once in each of their first eight series, starting with a 1-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers on opening day at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The rate has slowed recently, with Monday marking the first time the team had been shut out since May 12 against the Cleveland Guardians.
The Sox are last in the majors with 246 runs — 30 fewer than the No. 29 Miami Marlins.
The Sox have shown some more pop this month, hitting 29 home runs.
But the team has scored three runs or fewer in 11 of their last 14 games, including the first two in the series against the Dodgers.
21: blown saves
The Sox had a four-run lead heading to the bottom of the eighth inning on June 10 at Seattle.
Starter Erick Fedde surrendered a home run to Dominic Canzone to lead off the inning and gave way to closer Michael Kopech. The Mariners scored three runs against Kopech to tie the score.
The Mariners walked off the Sox an inning later when a grand slam by Cal Raleigh gave Seattle an 8-4 victory.
While Jordan Leasure received the loss, Kopech was credited with the blown save. The Sox have 21 blown saves this season, the most in the majors.
The Sox have suffered 28 losses after leading. Grifol said it’s not just one facet that has hurt the team in closing out games.
“We’ve had the ability to close games out in all areas, and at times we haven’t,” Grifol said. “We’ve had games where we don’t make a play in the infield or outfield, we’ve had games where we don’t take an extra base on the bases.
“We’ve got to really focus on closing out games in all facets of the game. And understanding that every little thing is important to be able to close these games out.”
0: games Pham, Robert, Jiménez and Moncada have played together
Designated hitter Eloy Jiménez suffered a left adductor strain on March 31, leading to the first of two trips to the injured list (left hamstring strain in late May). Center fielder Luis Robert Jr. sustained a right hip flexor strain on April 6, returning earlier this month. And on April 9, third baseman Yoán Moncada suffered a left adductor strain.
It’s been another painful season of injuries for the Sox.
The Sox did sign outfielder Tommy Pham in mid-April to aid with the offense. But the foursome of Pham, Robert, Jiménez and Moncada has played zero games together, as Moncada is still recovering from his injury.
Last week, general manager Chris Getz said Moncada could be back around the All-Star break. But with the trade deadline looming at that point, it remains to be seen exactly what the roster construction will look like at that time and by the end of July.
Rotation shuffle
The Sox made a slight shift in their rotation for the upcoming home games. They will likely go with a bullpen day Thursday against the Atlanta Braves, with the starter — as of Wednesday afternoon — to be announced. The Braves will start former Sox ace Chris Sale.
The Sox have Drew Thorpe, Jonathan Cannon and Crochet lined up as starters in the weekend series against the Colorado Rockies.
“Just give them extra days,” Grifol said. “We’re pushing these guys deep in games, and that’s the mentality we want to have. At the same time, these guys are young and first-timers, other than Fedde and (Chris) Flexen. We’ve got to do a little bit of controlling the workload.”
