The Chicago White Sox’s miserable 2024 season continues to sink to depths no other teams have fallen to before.
On Saturday, the White Sox lost to the Astros in a 6-1 affair at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The result marked the White Sox’s 27th defeat over their last 30 contests.
The August 17 loss also mathematically eliminated the 30-94 White Sox from qualifying for the playoffs. Chicago’s South Side squad officially became the earliest team to be eliminated from postseason contention since the divisional era began in 1969. The team earned the undesirable distinction despite there being three AL Wild Card spots up for grabs.
Today is August 17th, and the Chicago White Sox are now mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
This is the earliest calendar date elimination not only in the wild card era, but also the divisional era.
(h/t: @JessicaDBrand)
— Jason Hernandez (@StimpyJD) August 18, 2024
It’s crazy to think that the White Sox could close their season on an unfathomable 38-0 run and still miss the playoffs by a wide margin. In such a scenario, they’d only end up with a 68-94 record — 26 games below .500.
The White Sox at least managed to avoid setting the record for the most consecutive losses in major league history. They halted their season-worst losing streak at 21 games last week.
Fans celebrated their streak-ending win over the Oakland Athletics like their team had just won the pennant race. It never hurts to celebrate small wins.
