We’re into the second week of the playoffs, Main League Baseball’s annual celebration of excellence.
The motion has been compelling, what with upset sweeps in each American League Wild Card Collection and 1-1 splits after two video games of all 4 Division Collection. Hundreds of internet sites and media retailers are offering intensive protection.
However I’m deviating from the mainstream right this moment.
My matter isn’t excellence, however incompetence, particularly the horrendous 2024 season endured by the Chicago White Sox and their beleaguered followers. This yr’s remaining stats are actually out there, and so they enable us to actually recognize the scope of what the Sox completed — or extra precisely, what they failed to perform — within the current season.
Listed here are 11 factors in your consideration:
1. A lot has been product of the truth that the 2024 White Sox set a post-1900 report with 121 losses in 162 video games. But it surely needs to be famous that the earlier report holder, the 1962 New York Mets, performed solely 160 video games due to a pair of rainouts. The Sox subsequently completed with a greater profitable proportion (41-121, .253) than the ’62 Mets (40-120, .250).
2. Three different golf equipment since 1901 additionally fared marginally worse than the 2024 White Sox, all in seasons that featured shorter schedules. The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117) have been probably the most horrible staff of all, enjoying at a .235 clip. The others have been the 1935 Boston Braves (38-115) at .248 and the 1904 Washington Senators (38-113) at .252.
3. The White Sox completed 51.5 video games behind first-place Cleveland within the American League Central this yr. Solely three different golf equipment have dropped greater than 50 video games off the tempo because the present century started in 2000. These laggards have been the 2018 Baltimore Orioles (61 video games behind), 2019 Detroit Tigers (53.5 GB), and 2021 Arizona Diamondbacks (55 GB). Sox followers ought to take hope from these examples, because the Orioles and Tigers certified for the 2024 playoffs, and the Diamondbacks made all of it the way in which to the World Collection a yr in the past.
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4. You possibly can say this a lot in regards to the ineptitude of the White Sox: It was well-balanced. All 9 of the membership’s common place gamers completed with general base values (OBV) in unfavorable territory, which implies they carried out under league common on the plate. Catcher Korey Lee was the worst with a BV of minus-54, indicating that he reached 54 fewer bases than the standard American League batter would have piled up underneath the identical circumstances.
5. The pitching employees was equally inept. The White Sox used 35 pitchers in 2024, and 29 posted unfavorable OBVs. (If a pitcher’s worth is under zero, he allowed opposing batters to achieve extra bases than the typical AL pitcher would have surrendered.) Solely two members of the employees did higher than plus-six: Garrett Crochet with a BV of plus-31 and Erick Fedde with plus-30. (Fedde was traded to the Cardinals in July. His BV doesn’t embody his time with St. Louis.)
6. If we add up the general base values for all 63 gamers who donned White Sox uniforms this yr, we get a grand whole of minus-886. That’s traditionally dangerous. Solely the 1915 Philadelphia Athletics did worse with a collective OBV of minus-983. These A’s completed with a 43-109 report, 58.5 video games out of first place within the American League.
7. Just one big-league membership approached the White Sox on the tailend of this yr’s OBV standings — and it didn’t come all that shut. The Colorado Rockies had a collective base worth of minus-693. That’s actually an terrible quantity, to make sure, but it’s 193 bases higher than the staff worth for the White Sox.
8. The White Sox ranked useless final amongst all 30 big-league golf equipment in these batting classes in 2024: runs per recreation (3.13), residence runs (133), batting common (.221), walks acquired (395), on-base common (.278), and slugging proportion (.340).
9. Chicago’s pitching stats have been barely higher than these for its hitters. The White Sox have been worst within the majors in solely a handful of classes for pitchers, notably the fewest saves (21) and most walks allowed (643).
10. Let’s finish on an optimistic notice, providing one upbeat stat apiece on the offensive and defensive facet of the sport, giving White Sox followers one thing to construct on for the longer term. The offense first: The Sox completed the 2024 season with a contact fee (CT) of .739, which signifies that they put the ball in play on 73.9 p.c of their at-bats. That was higher than the CTs for 12 of the opposite 29 golf equipment. (Now if solely they may hit the ball tougher.)
11. What in regards to the pitching facet of the equation? The Sox really completed twelfth within the majors in strikeouts, whiffing 8.66 opponents per recreation. 5 of this yr’s playoff groups did worse. That’s a stat that ought to encourage hope — a bit bit, not less than — on the South Aspect.
