The Chicago White Sox on Friday broke Major League Baseball's 62-year-old single-season record with the most losses during a season with their 121st defeat against the Detroit Tigers. The White Sox lost the game 4-1. The Sox were trailing 4-1 in the ninth inning.
Andrew Vaughn made a lazy fly to right center, which the Tigers caught despite a little collision. Thus, 4-1 Tigers was the final. Adding insult to injury, former Sox announcer Jason Benetti was on the call for the Tigers as they clinched their first playoff berth in 10 years Friday night — under manager AJ Hinch, whom the Sox could have hired instead of Tony La Russa in 2020.
All this came after the Sox had won three games in a row against the Los Angeles Angels and had hovered at 120 losses. On Thursday, the Sox shut out the Angels 7-0. Earlier in the week , some fans were glad to see the White Sox win, but some came to games in hopes of seeing them break the record and ended up disappointed.
The 121 losses eclipsed the total that the 1962 expansion New York Mets recorded. The White Sox had already surpassed the 2003 Detroit Tigers, a team that lost 119 games, setting the American League record. MLB only counts records set in the modern era, which began in 1900, so the 1899 Cleveland Spiders' all-time record of 134 losses is not included.
The incredible feat of futility was the culmination of a long, grueling season in which the White Sox recorded multiple double-digit losing streaks, including a 14-game skid fro.