White Sox season off to historically-bad start originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Chicago White Sox came into the season with high hopes for the 2023 season, but things have not gone according to plan after consecutive series sweeps at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.
The latter was capped off by an 8-0 defeat on Wednesday afternoon, during which the White Sox managed just four hits and no runs, having now been held scoreless for 24 consecutive innings.
The White Sox have not won a series all season long, and now stand at 7-18 on the season, including a 4-12 mark away from Guaranteed Rate Field.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau and other outlets, the 7-18 mark for the White Sox matches the worst start they’ve had to a season during the expansion era of Major League Baseball, which began in 1961.
The last time the White Sox started a season 7-18 was back in 1986, when they ultimately finished with a 72-90 record, 20 games behind the American League West champions that season.
The White Sox, now 11 games under .500, have never made the postseason in a season where they were more than eight games under the break-even mark, having accomplished that particular feat in 1983.
As if that’s not bad enough, Wednesday’s performance in Toronto was one of the most offensively-challenged in team history. The White Sox racked up 17 strikeouts and just four hits, marking only the third time in team history they’ve hit those benchmarks in a game, according to Stathead.
The previous instances occurred in a 3-2 loss to the California Angels in 1976, and in 1910 when they played the Philadelphia Athletics to a 0-0 tie in a 16-inning game in Chicago.
The White Sox won’t have a break in their schedule this coming weekend, as they’re getting ready for a four-game series against the Rays beginning on Thursday night.
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