CHICAGO — Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz knows his team is staring down a record number of losses this season, but he's urging his players to «make the best of it» as they draw closer to 120 or more defeats, the modern record for losses in a single season. «I think if you would have told me we were going to end up flirting with the record I would have been a little surprised,» Getz said on Monday afternoon. «Now if you would have told me prior to the year that we would have ended up with over 100 losses, 105, 110, I wouldn't have been as surprised.
But this is the cards that we've been dealt at this point. You try to make the best of it, and I think it's an opportunity to embrace the situation that we're in.» The White Sox are 33-111 with 18 games remaining on the schedule, including Monday night's contest against the Cleveland Guardians.
Their .229 winning percentage has them on pace for 125 losses. The 1962 Mets, the modern record holders for most losses in a season, were 40-120.
The question of whether the White Sox will surpass that mark has morphed from an «if» to a «when.» Getz is hoping the tough times will give way to better days in the future. «As someone that grew up in Detroit, we saw the Tigers in 2003 with 43 wins and three years later, we're in the World Series,» he stated. «I view it as kind of the frustrating part of the story, but I also know that the future's looking bright and it's going to make it just that much sweeter once we get there.» Much of the White Sox's season has been by design, beginning with trading their best pitcher, Dylan Cease, to the San Diego Padres on the eve of the season.