Inside the 2024 White Sox's road to MLB's all-time worst record - ESPN

MORE THAN 17,000 fans — and 375 dogs, attending the season's final Dog Day promotion — descended upon Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday, there to see the Chicago White Sox set the modern-day mark for losses in a single season. One fan even printed out a hard ticket for the game.

«It's history,» he said. «I want to have a piece of it.»

Inside the clubhouse, players have taken the ignominy in stride over the past 156 games, 120 of them losses. But knowing that this record-setting moment was coming didn't take away the sting of its arrival.

«This isn't the kind of attention we want,» outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets told what was the largest media contingent of the year, according to several players.

Six hours later — after a pregame rain delay of an hour and five minutes followed by an eighth-inning comeback against the Los Angeles Angels — the White Sox ended the night exactly where they started it: one game away from becoming the worst team in modern baseball history.

Chicago improved to 1-94 when trailing after seven innings — but celebrated the victory on the mound to boos loud enough to be heard through the stadium. The fans' complicated feelings showed all game long, with a mix of cheers and boos when things went right for the home team and at others chanting «Sell the team!» when things went wrong.

«First comeback win being this late in the season is hard to believe,» outfielder Andrew Benintendi said after the game. «People here tonight were trying to see history. They're going to have to wait one more day. Maybe.»

There are bad teams in every baseball season. Some of them lose 100 games, maybe more. That was the fate many expected for Chicago — even within the franchise — coming off a 101-loss 2023 season. But