Sept. 24, 2024: A day that could go down in infamy for the White Sox.
With a record of 36-120, the Sox host the Angels at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday night, two days removed from a 4-2 loss to the Padres (their 27th after taking a lead into the seventh inning) that tied them with the 1962 Mets for the humiliating record of most losses in a season since 1900.
A sixth straight loss Tuesday would be their 121st, a shocking number avoidable only with six wins over the six games left on their schedule.
This day was seen coming for weeks, even months, while the Sox lost at unrelenting clips beginning with a 7-21 start to the season and continuing with losing streaks of 14, 12 and 21, the latter tying the American League record.
A national audience is paying attention now, with print and online media preparing headlines and TV networks readying crawlers to roll at the bottoms of their screens.
Tying the Mets, an expansion team in ’62, was a low blow of its own Sunday. All said and done, Sox players and interim manager Grady Sizemore have graciously faced the music. Many players sat at their lockers Sunday at Petco Park in San Diego, prepared to answer questions if wanted.
“I guess when you lose 120, it’s easier to brush it off, but it [stinks] to go through it,” said left fielder Andrew Benintendi, the Sox’ best hitter during the second half. “But that’s where we’re at.”
The possibility of finishing with an 11-game skid is unlikely but not out of the question, not for this team. Facing the 63-93 Angels certainly helps their chances of avoiding another double-digit losing streak.
That said, the Sox lost two of three to the Angels on the road last week. That came after they won three in a row against the Athletics and Angels.
“When we won three in a row, there was an excitement of, ‘This is what it feels like to win,’ ” first baseman and outfielder Gavin Sheets said. “And you start to expect it again. Instead of ‘How are we going to lose this,’ it was, ‘How are we going to win this game?’ ”
That feeling lasted all of three days.
“That’s the biggest thing we need to overcome this season,” Sheets said.
Excitement as described by Sheets and the Sox has come only on rare occasions. Before that three-game winning streak, the Sox hadn’t won two in a row since June 28-29. They’ve had winning streaks of two or more games just seven times all season, the longest at four games in early May.
It has taken large chunks out of everyone. Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf included himself in that group two weeks ago in a statement after a 6-4 loss to the Guardians on a Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“This year has been very painful for all, especially our fans,” Reinsdorf said.
And for the players?
“A baseball season is always a physical grind,” Sheets said, “But this season is more mentally challenging than ever before.”
That the Sox likely will break the record at home will be fitting. They were 20-58 at Guaranteed Rate Field where they had a franchise-record 16-game losing streak. They’re averaging attendance of 17,039 at home, their lowest figure in 25 years.
Whether fans turn out to possibly witness history on a September school night remains to be seen. But Sox fans by and large — even while depressed and expressing disdain for ownership and management — also have become apathetic.
It has been a tough year on everyone.
“Very sad,” third baseman Miguel Vargas, who arrived this summer in a trade from the Dodgers, one of baseball’s crown-jewel franchises, said after the Sox tied the Mets’ record.
Vargas, who’s batting .122/ .231/.200 in 35 games, had two hits Sunday, including a homer against the Padres’ Yu Darvish, and a stolen base. He also misjudged a foul pop-up for the second time
in weeks.
“We don’t want that,” he said. “Nobody wants that. It happened. Now we have to think about what is going on next.”
Jonathan Cannon (4-10, 4.61 ERA), who earned a save to stop the 14-game losing streak and victories to stop the 12- and 21-game streaks, starts for the Sox on Tuesday night.
NOTE: The Sox claimed right-hander Ron Marinaccio off waivers from the Yankees and optioned him to Double-A Birmingham. Marinaccio, 29, had a 2.04 ERA
in 35 relief appearances with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and 3.86 ERA in 16 relief appearances with the Yankees.