CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox are the worst team in major league baseball — they have the worst record, scored the fewest runs and allowed the second-most — and there’s a real chance that any of the top players on their roster could be moved to a more favorable spot before the July 30 trade deadline.
Isn’t the atmosphere surrounding the team just as bad as their record?
not much.
Under these circumstances, it is fair to assume that the atmosphere surrounding this team is indeed tense, perhaps even intense.
Taken at face value, I would imagine that playing for a team that’s 17-49 would be like living in a constant state of uncertainty, gnashing your teeth at every game, with each game becoming more meaningless than the last as the week goes on.
But entering Guaranteed Rate Field this weekend, the atmosphere was anything but. In fact, if the average spectator didn’t know any better, they would never have guessed the Red Sox were as bad a team as their record makes them out to be.
On Saturday, as I walked into the clubhouse after the usual bag and badge checks, I saw Garrett Crochet and Dominic Fletcher laughing and playing ping pong together. Fletcher appeared to win the game.
At roughly the same time, Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” was playing softly over the clubhouse speakers and Jordan Reger was sitting in a chair in front of his locker, watching what looked like a baseball TikTok or Instagram Reel.
The clock ticked down a few seconds, and as I stood around the counter in the center of the clubhouse with the rest of the local media, Danny Mendick walked past, a friendly smile on his face, striding toward his locker.
“How’s your day going, guys?” he said, speaking to no one in particular.
Mendick tucked in his shirt, grabbed his glove and exchanged small talk and hellos before taking to the field to take some infield practice in preparation for that night’s game against the Boston Red Sox.
At the time, everything seemed like business as usual, even though Chicago was just one game away from a 14-game losing streak, the second-longest in franchise history (the White Sox lost 15 in a row from the end of the 1967 season through the start of the 1968 season).
After losing 12 games in a row during that streak, White Sox Hall of Famer Frank Thomas described his team’s play as “snake-bitten,” which sums up their season well.
When Chicago got a hit, they didn’t pitch, when the White Sox pitched, they didn’t get a hit.
If the inability to consistently put it all together wasn’t enough of a hurdle, there’s also the fact that promising players are hitting uncharacteristic slumps while battling ever-present injuries.
As of Saturday afternoon, the White Sox had 13 players on the injured list, including Mike Clevinger, Dominic Leone, Steven Wilson, Yoan Moncada, Andrew Benintendi, Fletcher, Eloy Jimenez and Tommy Pham.
Luis Robert Jr., the team’s most talented player, returned from injured reserve on Tuesday after missing 53 games with a right hip flexor injury.
Elsewhere, Benintendi and Andrew Vaughn underperformed.
In 51 games, Benintendi is hitting .195/.230/.284 with four home runs, 18 RBIs and a .514 OPS, while Vaughn is hitting .217/.278/.353 with six home runs and 22 RBIs, but his hitting has been better recently.
Vaughn had a hitting streak of eight games entering Sunday, during which he was batting .355 with two doubles, two home runs and four RBIs.
Benintendi, Moncada, Robert Jr., Jimenez and Vaughn were all 1-5 hitters for the White Sox on Opening Day, but they all suffered injuries, spent various periods on the disabled list or endured one of the worst seasons of their careers through 66 games.
Add in Tommy Pham, who has played in either the leadoff or second base position in all 33 games since his Chicago debut on April 26, and this team never got a chance to develop the cohesiveness needed to win consistently in the major leagues.
Then there are the concerns about the pitching staff.
Before the season began, the team’s ace, Dylan Cease, was traded to the San Diego Padres in a mid-spring training trade.
Cleavinger was the second-best starter in the starting rotation last season behind Schasz, but he is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in four starts and is recovering from inflammation in his right elbow.
With their top starting pitcher being traded and their second-best starting pitcher hurt, only five White Sox pitchers have ERAs below 4.00: Garrett Crochette, Eric Feddy, Jordan Leger, Jared Schuster and Steven Wilson.
If you remove Wilson from that group, who has been on the disabled list since May 20 with back tightness, Chicago is left with two starters and two relievers who have performed admirably and remain available among the 18 pitchers who have appeared in at least five games for the team this year.
It’s no surprise that the White Sox are doing as well as they are, but despite everything that has happened, injuries, losses and slumps aside, the players remain positive and the team remains united.
“We have a really good group of guys here. We have a strong clubhouse,” manager Gavin Sheets said after the White Sox’s 6-1 win Saturday. “It’s been that way since spring training, there were two ways we could have gone. We could have broken that streak or we could have gotten closer.
“We’ve all been through this together. We’re all supporting each other. [we’re] It’s a really close-knit group.”
Thinking about Sheets’ feelings, it’s hard not to imagine an alternate reality in which Chicago’s dominoes fall in a row: The offensive core of Robert Jr., Moncada, Jimenez and Benintendi remains intact, Vaughn provides the offensive punch and DeJong packs the punch at shortstop.
Cease remains in town and helps form a formidable trio with Clochet and Fedé at the top of the rotation.
The bullpen will be a foundational piece, with guys like Reaser, Leone, Wilson and Michael Kopech providing reliable options in relief.
If that team were to play on Sunday, it would likely have a winning percentage of over .500 and be in second place or competing for first place in the AL Central Division.
But they remain calmly at the bottom of the table, struggling to find the magic of consistent success that has eluded them for most of 2024.
