With the 2024 regular season nearing its end, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. White Sox on the cusp of history:
With their 120th loss of the season on Sunday, the 2024 White Sox took sole possession of the all-time record for losses in the American League away from the 2003 Detroit Tigers. A loss in the opener of today’s series against the Angels, which is set to feature right-hander Jonathan Cannon (4.61 ERA) against Angels youngster Jack Kochanowicz (4.56 in nine starts), would break Chicago’s tie with the 1962 Mets for the most losses by any team in the modern era.
That’s a record that seems all but guaranteed to be shattered sooner or later as the Sox would have to sweep their final six games of the regular season to avoid it, but there are other records that could be in play as the club’s disastrous season winds down. Namely, winning at least three of their remaining six games would allow the club to avoid breaking the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics’ modern era record for worst winning percentage of .235. Meanwhile, winning even one more game before the end of the season would allow the White Sox to avoid tying those aforementioned A’s, as well as the same club’s 1919 season, for the fewest wins in the modern era excluding the shortened 60-game campaign in 2020.
2. Mets, Braves clash over Wild Card:
The Mets are in Atlanta this evening for a three-game set against the Braves that could determine the makeup of the playoff picture in the National League. After a loss by the Diamondbacks yesterday while both Atlanta and New York were off, the Braves now sit just 1.5 games back of a Wild Card spot. The Mets hold a half-game lead over the D-backs for the second NL Wild Card spot. While the Braves and Mets clash, Arizona will continue its home series against the Giants.
A sweep by the Braves would vault them ahead of the Mets, and even taking two of three would be awfully significant as it would not only cut the club’s deficit in the standings but hand Atlanta a victory in the season series (which is currently split 5-5) and the accompanying tiebreaker. Given the fact that the Braves already hold the tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks this year, winning even two of these three games would put them in a much stronger position to make the postseason headed into the season’s final series over the weekend. Things are set to get started in Atlanta at 7:20pm local time when the Braves send rookie Spencer Schwellenbach (3.61 ERA in 19 starts) to the mound opposite righty Luis Severino (3.79 ERA).
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
As the regular season winds down, there’s still plenty of chaos in the Wild Card races as on top of this week’s pivotal series for the NL race there’s a whopping six teams still in play for the final two AL Wild Card spots, including four that are within 1.5 games of a playoff spot. If you’re wondering about how your team stacks up headed into October or how your club could approach the coming offseason, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is holding a live chat with readers at 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Never going to beat the 1899 Cleveland Spiders .130 W%.
Old – Not going to beat the 1920 Chicago Giants .139 W% either … and that was during the Modern Era, while the 1899 Spidies was not.
Just as we discussed in that previous thread about records, it’s odd that we combine all the stats in history for MLB but when it comes to standings, we seem to separate modern (early 1900s, why?) but 1899 is not modern. I’d say the game has changed so much, modern should be more like 2020 to present.
Old – I think for simplicity purposes they just decided new century, new era.
As far as changes, 1920 (end of the Dead Ball era) and 1945-1947 (end of WWII and segregation) were much bigger than the rules changes of 2020.
@Fever Pitch Guy
Then I think they should have standings records for those different eras but not make comparisons. Modern should be closer to maybe 2020 or a bit earlier. The rules they played with in the 20s are not the same as what we have today.
For historical purposes, ending segregation in baseball with Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers was, in my opinion, really when baseball overall finally had a lot more meaning. I really do wonder what if scenarios of all these great baseball legends from MLB and the Negro Leagues playing integrated baseball, just how they would have fared against each other.
Absolutely right, Warden.
acoss – It’s one of those things we will never truly know because of a plethora of variables.
Was Josh Gibson the greatest hitter in baseball when he batted .466 with a 1.427 OPS in 1943?
Probably not, because the pitchers he faced were far worse and he had only 302 PA’s and the rules were very different than MLB at that time.
Who knows, maybe he was the Aaron Judge of the 1940’s … but there is no chance he was that much better than Musial. And BTW great players such as Ted Williams didn’t even play that year because of military service.
@Warden of the North(acoss13)
I’d imagine Ruth still remains the same guy. Possibly less or more HRs. He was just a completely different guy at the time when he was hitting more HRs than teams did in a season. It looks like pitching in the ANL wasn’t as good in 1929 as it was in MLB.
baseball-reference.com/leagues/ANL/pitch.shtml
But it would have been interesting to see how some of the stars from the ANL would have performed in the MLB.
@Fever Pitch Guy:
1901 was the first season of MLB as we know it. The American League joined the National that season. It had just been the National League alone before that. Also why the NL is referred to as the ‘senior circuit’. It was there first.
That’s why 1901 is considered the start of modern baseball because it’s the first year of the full league.
@Canuckleball
According to the MLB page on Wiki,
For professional baseball’s founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was established.
Canuck – I totally agree 1901 makes the most sense for the reason you’ve stated, but the term Modern Era has always been open to interpretation.
Baseball’s record books include the “Since 1900” designation for the Modern Era, and SABR refers to 1893 as the start of the Modern Era because it was the year the current pitching distance was established.
Personally it doesn’t matter to me either way because basically every decade there’s been variables.
I mean you’ve got ten different years when somebody hit at least .400 and you’ve got years where guys like Yaz won the batting title with a .301 average.
@Fever Pitch
Yeah, but when did the mound move back to 60 feet – was that after Mathewson? After the year of the pitchers in 68, it moved down too. Then there’s the DH for 45+ years in one league not the other… I don’t think we can ever compare eras, when the game has continually been changed – rightly or wrongly- by commissioners…
Warden speaks the truth he does
Old York, Fever: I think you underestimate the ineptitude of Jerry Reinsdorf. This team, minus Crochet and probably Robert, are more than capable of breaking those records and many others next season. I said early in the season that this team would set more records than the Phillies, Braves and Dodgers combined.
Who thinks the Sox will lose their next 6 games!
Sox will be hungry to boot the Tigers from the playoffs so they’ll sweep the Tigers.
Sox set MLB history with each loss.
Angels are two losses away from typing the franchise record, three from breaking it.
What a series ha ha.
Sox are ugly this year but their opponent is uglier. Angels are the active leader in consecutive losing seasons (8 soon to be 9).
I sense a prop bet or 2 from your friendly local sports book incoming on Angels in 2025.
I attended the Sox/Angels game in Anaheim last Wednesday and it was the worst conglomeration of players I have ever seen on a baseball field in 60 years of attending games, including the God awful Giants and A’s teams of the mid- to late-70s. The Angels had benched their only three healthy MLB caliber players (O’Hoppe, Neto and Ward) and I had never heard of 8 of the 9 guys out there. There are rules against this even in spring training games. It was an abomination.
I write for a site that covers the team and even I’ve had to look up some of these guys.
Yeah, last week was worse than a spring training split squad lineup.
Arte Moreno and Jerry Reinsdorf, both owners suck. We have a lot in common!
The battle between a moveable object and a stoppable force has never been more exciting.
@Halos
I’m genuinely gutted for Halos fans. Light seemed at the end of the tunnel a year or two ago when Moreno was floating the idea of selling. What changed?
It’s a fun & easily accessible park to visit, knowledgeable fans, remarkably decent food (for a ballpark) and at the time I last went had both Ohtani & Trout (both injured)…
What has gone wrong since 2014 when I first visited and now?
My gut feeling is Arte now thinks he can get a development deal done. That’s the only logical reason for him to turn down the offers rumored to be out there.
Then again, this is the man who believed Pujols age and signed Josh Hamilton, Anthony Rendon, and others so who knows?
Kudos to the WhiteSox social media staff for their recent tweets including:
FINAL: can be found on the MLB app
And
FINAL: the number of runs we scored was not greater than the number of runs they scored.
Laughter is the best medicine or something.
I see you read the ESPN article…
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41404875/chicago-white-sox…
Sorry, Mets fans and sometime this week, to A’s fans. THE RECORD IS OURS!!!!
@avenger65
Muts will always be the Muts.
White (Black) Sox will always be cheaters.
A’s will always be a garbage time team. Just look at their history. They’ve moved to 3 different cities. Clearly, they have a bad choice is picking cities.
@Old York
Congratulations on starting drinking early on a Tuesday…
@A’sfaninLondonUK
A’s should be moved back to Philly. Enough with the constant moving to cities that can’t support them. Worst franchise in history.
1972-1974. They were appalling then, yes?
Old York: I remember watching the A’s win three WSs in a row. They haven’t always been a “garbage time team.” And the franchise also boasts HOFer Al Simmons, a Philadelphia A whose grandson I watched pitch for his high school team and talk to about Simmons. Great experience.
@A’sfaninLondonUK
The league was quite appalling back then to allow a garbage team like the A’s to win it all. Clearly, the other teams weren’t trying.
I’m sure the Mets and Athletics fans are heart broken right now!
I’m sorry to say the White Sox hierarchy has turned this team into a. sad joke.
Atlanta Jack: And the sad thing is, Reinsdorf could care less. But, hey, let’s give this uncaring skinflint a new stadium on the taxpayer’s dime.
Sad but true.
@Atlanta Jack
Hey! If I’m making millions of dollars to play a game, I don’t care what team I’m on.
Yes but true fans do.
Mother Nature is going to play a roll in the NL wildcard chase with all that rain headed towards ATL. Maybe suspended games, rainouts, double headers, postponement?
Ok Braves, do what you have done before, send the Mutts to the house with no post season
olerub: I’m hoping for SD, AZ and Atlanta, in that order. The Braves would play the Brewers and AZ would be at SD in the first round. That last one would be a helluva series for the first round.
@olereb
Agreed. The Braves need to dump the mutts and leave them in the dust.
Old York and avenger65, can tell yaw are highly intelligent people. The Braves season has been a nightmare 2/3 of their outfield and 1/2 of their infield has been out, not counting their in my opinion their best starter. If I’m AA, I would meet with Max and his agent and come up with a deal. I think Max is the best left hander in the game. If it’s game 7, I would love for it to be Fried’s turn.