DETROIT — Infielder Nicky Lopez recalled the phone call he received in November from Atlanta Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos informing him he had been traded.
“I wasn’t sure at first where and then he said the Chicago White Sox and I was just like, if I was to go somewhere, why not go home?” Lopez told reporters at the time.
Even though the season will wrap up Sunday with the Sox holding the record for the most losses in modern-day Major League Baseball history, the Naperville Central graduate still has fond memories of 2024.
“Whether we won 100 games or we lost 100 games, it still can’t take away the dream of playing for a hometown team, whether it’s the Cubs or the White Sox,” Lopez told the Tribune on Saturday morning at Comerica Park. “Not many athletes can say they came home. It was a dream come true.
“Obviously it was a tough year. But it was one that I will definitely never forget.”
It has been a record-setting season for the Sox. Just not the type any team would want to make.
The Sox suffered their 121st defeat Friday, surpassing the modern-day mark of 120 losses held by the expansion 1962 New York Mets, by falling 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
The Sox topped the Tigers 4-0 on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 41,933, just their second victory in 12 chances in the season series.
Sox starter Sean Burke followed a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay with five scoreless innings. The right-hander allowed two hits, struck out six and walked three.
“It sucks but they have to deal with it too,” Burke said of pitching in the rain. “It’s nothing I haven’t pitched in before. I’m from Massachusetts and pitched for a Big Ten school (Maryland) so I’m used to pitching in this stuff. Once I got my footing, I settled in.”
Bryan Ramos (solo) and Andrew Benintendi (two-run) hit home runs. Benintendi’s blast, in the eighth inning, was his 20th of the season — matching a career high.
“It hasn’t always gone our way, but one thing they have done is compete and not give in and not fold,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “And even here late in the year, it would be easy to cash it in and go through the motions. But we aren’t doing that. Guys are playing hard and having fun and still competing.”
The Sox are 40-121 heading into Sunday’s season finale.
While the Sox will go down in history as the team with the modern record for most losses, first baseman/designated hitter Gavin Sheets will remember his teammates as “a group that stayed together through a lot.”
“This is something that nobody can ever prepare for,” Sheets said after Friday’s loss. “And I think everybody in this clubhouse did an extremely good job of handling it. There’s been managerial turnover (with Pedro Grifol being fired on Aug. 8), there’s been player turnover, there’s been outside news.
“Anything you can throw at a group of guys has been thrown at us. I would say the way we stuck together and just continued to battle together and be professionals, that’s all you can ask for during a time like this.”
Lopez knew that as the losses piled up, so would the national attention.
“You can’t take back what happened,” Lopez said. “It’s been a tough year, but it’s one of those you’ve got to keep pushing forward and make the necessary adjustments this offseason and hope that next year’s a little bit different.
“With the national media and all that, we knew it was going to happen. We had to just stay together in here and keep improving every single day.”
He said Sizemore helped in that department.
“Grady’s been awesome,” Lopez said. “He’s been unbelievable. A breath of fresh air in the second half. I really do hope he’s here next year. He gets it. He’s played 10 years in the big leagues. He’s been in our shoes. He has persevered through things. And he gets it. He knows what it takes to be a player and he also knows how the game is, and he has our back.
“He’s a pro. He’s someone who made it a little easier this second half, for sure.”
Sizemore said the players “showed a lot this year.”
“It’s not the year we wanted,” he said after Friday’s game. “It’s not the numbers that we want. But that doesn’t mean it’s a total loss. We can build from this. We can learn from this and get better. We’ll be stronger because of it. These guys, there’s a lot left in the tank. No one is feeling sorry for themselves in there. They’re frustrated and they’re hungry and they want to get better.”
Lopez said while it’s been a challenging year, “it wasn’t a work ethic issue.”
“This team came every single day and worked,” he said. “I give everybody in this clubhouse credit for that. It’s easy, when you’re losing games, to not go in and get your work in and do the necessary things to prepare for a game. A lot of people can fall into that trap and we didn’t. We came in and worked.
“It wasn’t due to a lack of effort, that’s for sure. It was one of those years we couldn’t figure it out. But it will go on, careers will go on. Keep hanging on to the positives and you’ve got to leave the negatives in the rearview mirror.”
