SAN DIEGO — One hundred twenty down with six games to go.
That’s where the 2024 White Sox, the worst team in the history of the American League after their 4-2 loss to the Padres Sunday, sit in the loss column with a week left in the worst season of the franchise’s storied history.
With their fifth straight defeat and 23rd in the last 28 games, the Sox fell to 36-120 to tie the expansion 1962 New York Mets’ record for most losses in the modern era and break the 2003 Tigers’ AL record 119 losses.
“It’s very frustrating, it’s not what we want,” said Miguel Vargas, a trade deadline acquisition from the Dodgers who homered against Yu Darvish. “We don’t want to be on this side of history.”
Rookie right-hander Sean Burke pitched six innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts and Korey Lee and Vargas homered to give Burke a 2-1 lead, but the Padres (90-66), in the thick of postseason hunt, rallied for three runs against relievers Prelander Berroa and Fraser Ellard in the eighth.
It marked both the majors-worst 36th blown save and 48th bullpen loss.
Donovan Solano doubled against Berroa and Luis Arraez doubled against Ellard to open the eighth, tying the score at 2, and Juickson Profar knocked in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly following a wild pitch.
Fernando Tatis Jr. homered to make it 4-2 as the Padres took a three-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks for the top wild-card berth and home field in the first round.
The Sox are 53 1/2 games out of first place in the AL Central.
“Same as every other loss, they all suck,” left fielder Andrew Benintendi said. “How many there are doesn’t matter to us.”
After an off day Monday, the Sox play the Angels in a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field before finishing the season with three games next weekend at the surging Detroit Tigers, needing to win them all to avoid having the record to themselves, an impossible task for a team that hasn’t won more than four games in a row.
“It’s going to put a bitter taste in all our mouths,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “No one wants to be at the bottom of any records or anything like that. So you use that to fuel yourself for next year, be stronger.”
As for the stain that is number 120, Sizemore said, “It’s not something we’re focused on. Everyone outside this room is more obsessed with it than us. Put it behind us and get ready for the next series at home. We all know the situation but we still have a job to do.”
The staggering amount of Sox losses following a season of 101 defeats not far removed from a 93-win season in 2021 that netted an AL Central title, has been national news for weeks now.
“We’re at the point now where I’m not focused on the wins and losses,” Sizemore said. “Obviously you want to win every day and whether it’s 120 or 122 or 115 it’s not a number we’re happy with it. At this point it’s developing these guys, get them as many reps and situations as possible.”
The Sox have been swept 24 times. They also tied the AL record with a 21-game losing streak this season.
“If you ask 50 guys who are part of this [organization], we are not going to be happy about it,” Lee said. “If you are happy about it, then I don’t know what you are doing here. But it’s obviously hard, but at the same time, you gotta focus on one day at a time.”