The Chicago White Sox 2024 season has been historic for all the wrong reasons. That’s because they are officially the worst MLB team ever.

With a shockingly embarrassing record of 41-121, the White Sox have secured their spot at the bottom of baseball’s standings this year and every year. The team broke the record for the worst regular season record of all time, “beating” the previous record holders of the 1962 New York Mets. 

By comparison, the New York Mets’ 1962 season was their debut season and was plagued by the expansion draft, where the Mets had to buy reserve players from existing clubs to start up.

Looking at the stats, it is no surprise that they have lost 121 games this season. 

They are dead last in the league for on-base percentage (.277), slugging (.388), and home runs (109). They are second to last in the league for batting average (.219), earned run average (661), and walks and hits per inning pitched (1.45). The White Sox’s longest winning streak in their entire 162-game season was 4 games. Conversely, their longest losing streak was 21 games, which is tied for second longest losing streak in MLB history.

These stats are important and heavily affect the outcome of every game. However, it gets worse when one looks at their division.

The White Sox finished a whopping 41 games behind the fourth-place team in the AL Central (Minnesota Twins: 82-80). The AL Central only has five teams.

Predictably, the team’s fans have made it known that they are not satisfied with this season. However, the staggeringly low attendance is shocking nonetheless.

For instance, the White Sox reportedly had 17 people in paid attendance for one of their home games this season. They have had the fourth-worst attendance in the MLB, and the team has responded by lowering their tickets to an average price of just $29.

With all of these terrifying statistics, many people wonder what the root cause of the team’s dismal performance is.

The key factor multiple sources point at is the White Sox owner, Jerry Reinsdorf.

Reinsdorf has been under fire by news sources for being too frugal and not keeping up with the times. The biggest and most common aspect that keeps getting brought up would not be the first thing you expect; it’s the team plane.

The White Sox’s plane is an Airbus A320. This is a commercial plane made during the 1980s. The plane only has eight first-class seats, and the rest are coach. Teams understandably can save money here and there, but even franchises known for being frugal, like the Colorado Rockies, charter nicer planes.

Accordingly, the players have reflected their distaste for the aircraft. “C’mon man, no show plane?” The team reportedly laughed at this comment from a new player. 

The team plane does not affect batting average and home runs; that’s not the point, but it does set a precedent for the team and its standards.

Another standard that the White Sox haven’t been meeting is their analytics department for pitchers and hitters.

Almost any big corporation – even outside of sports – uses analytics to help it succeed in its practice. It isn’t a secret that reflecting on past performance and production can help teams with their future. Reinsdorf, however, has openly and clearly stated his position against analytics. “You guys know I’m not an analytics person. I’m not big into this,” said Reinsdorf, an actual owner of an MLB team.

The White Sox analytics department is so poor that they have been deporting their data to private companies. A rival executive pointed out the obvious flaw in this. “The whole point of analytics is to have your own customized models for your players to gain an edge. You don’t get that from an external firm.”

With all of these mistakes for which the owner has been criticized, people can’t help but wonder why he continues to be part of the organization.

This thought has been shared so much that even his friends have asked him why he won’t just sell the team and get out. His response isn’t exactly reassuring. “I like what I’m doing, as bad as it is, and what else would I do?” Statements like these have only amplified fans’ demands to sell the team to a new owner.

Saint Paul’s senior Vincent Cruise has also shown similar distaste for Reinsdorf and his business tactics. “He just wants to sell tickets and doesn’t care about his teams. Just look at the Bulls and their performance over the last few years. He isn’t fit to be a sports owner,” said Cruise. Reinsdorf also owns the Chicago Bulls, a franchise that has not won a playoff series since 2015.

Reinsdorf’s ownership has negatively affected the team, but managers in the organization have also been in the crosshairs for this season’s performance.

The White Sox were 28-89 when they decided to fire Pedro Grifol, their then-manager. White Sox general manager Chris Getz noted a “lack of production overall” and that “obviously there was something broken” with Grifol as manager.

The White Sox continued their firing spree by firing their assistant hitting coach, Mike Tosar, third-base coach Eddie Rodriguez, and bench coach Charlie Montoyo.

Following these fires, the team appointed former All-Star Grady Sizemore as interim coach, and he hasn’t done anything spectacular either. He has led the rest of the season with a 13-32 record and isn’t being considered for the permanent manager position.

Getz admits that the team’s main focus isn’t on its record, calling it not the team’s “highest priority,” but on rebuilding and reviving the dead team. The White Sox continue their search for a new manager and have shown interest in multiple candidates.

The history of this team’s downfall could go years back, but it eventually leads back to the bad choices of a bad owner and the low standards that the organization has set.

This culmination of choices and poor leadership has led to the team’s downfall. Thus, the 2023-2024 White Sox officially became the worst team in baseball history.