2 minute read
Chicago White Sox Finish HIstorically Bad Season
Written by Costa Patel.
As the Major League Baseball season came to a close, the Chicago White Sox found themselves in the record books for all the wrong reasons.
The 2024 White Sox ended their season with a dismal record of 41 wins and 121 losses, officially making them the worst team in MLB history.
The previous record for most losses in a season belonged to the 1962 New York Mets, who finished with a 40-120 record. While their numbers look similar, the 2024 White Sox hold the unfortunate distinction of having more total losses (121).
Comparing poor seasons across different sports can be challenging due to varying schedules. In the NFL, for instance, five teams have gone winless during the regular season, but only two have done so since 1978, when the league expanded to a 16-game schedule. However, with the NFL playing far fewer games than MLB, record-based comparisons may not be the best method for determining the worst season in sports.
The NBA offers a more realistic comparison. The league plays 82 regular-season games, which is still far fewer than MLB's 162 games. As of 2024, the team with the lowest winning percentage in NBA history is the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats, who finished 7-59 during a shortened 66-game season. That translates to a 106 winning percentage worse than the White Sox's 253. If converted to an MLB season, the Bobcats' record would equate to 17-145, making their performance statistically worse than the 2024 White Sox.
While the White Sox’s 2024 season may not be the very worst sports team in history, their performance this year is one of the worst the MLB has seen.
