The horrible White Sox offense: A record update
By Bill Felber
It’s time to update the Chicago White Sox’ chase for probably the least desirable entry in the MLB record book…..worst offense.
On these pages six weeks ago, I noted the developing possibility that the White Sox could feature the least productive offense in baseball history. At that time, the Sox were averaging just 2.17 runs per game, a full quarter run less than the least productive offense ever.
60 games into the season – enough time for the numbers to harden into substantive form – the Sox are no longer in position to be the worst ever. They’ve elevated their production all the way to 2.92 runs per game, which would merely be the worst in more than a half century.
In Game 61 Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, the Sox did something unusual. They scored six runs, only the ninth time all season they’ve managed that prolific a production.
In the process, they actually beat up on NL ERA leader Shota Imanaga, touching him up for five runs in four innings. They still lost, of course, 7-6, their 12th straight defeat, a streak that ran to 13 on Wednesday.
Here’s how bad it’s been for the 2024 White Sox; they are 7-9 in their 16 highest-scoring games this season.
Chicago White Sox offense is no longer historically bad, but the team sure is
40 percent of the way through the season, the Sox stand last in the majors in every significant offensive category: runs, batting average, on base, slugging, base hits and homers. And in most of those categories, it’s not especially close. Their .215 average is worst by eight points, they are 14 points worse in on base, 19 points worse in slugging and 46 runs worse in production.
All of that puts the South Siders’ offense in some rare company if you like ineptitude. Over the past decade, the weakest offense belonged to the 2014 San Diego Padres. In a season in which they finished 77-85, the Padres offense managed 3.30 runs scored per game. That’s still 13 percent more productive than the 2024 White Sox.
To find a team that averaged fewer than three runs per game, you have to scroll back more than a half century through the record books. The last two to do so were the 1972 California Angels (2.93) and the 1972 Texas Rangers (2.99). That was one year before the American League instituted the designated hitter rule.
It also came during a time when pitching was more dominant than it is today. In 1972, the average number of runs scored per game was 3.69; thus far this season, the comparable figure is 4.33, more than a half run higher. If you run a test of exceptionality, it works out that the 1972 Angels offense was only 1.49 standard deviations below the MLB average. The 2024 White Sox are scoring at a rate that is 2.8 standard deviations worse than the MLB average.
60 games into the season, it’s no longer difficult to imagine Chicago making a run at some ancient standards of scoring ineptitude.
To find the last team that finished a full major league season with productivity below 2.9 runs per game – the White Sox are at 2.92 – you have to reach back to the days of the high mound. In 1968, the White Sox averaged just 2.86 runs per game. In the past century, only two other teams – the 1942 Phillies at 2.61 and the 1963 Houston Colt 45s at 2.86 – have averaged below 2.9 runs per game.
The 2024 White Sox are on pace to have the 15th least productive offense since the dawn of the age of baseball professionalism in the 1870s. Of the 14 teams with a worse offense, nine played during the game’s most notorious dead ball era, between 1901 and 1918.
5 MLB teams who changed my mind during May (calltothepen.com)