The White Sox are having a season to forget.
But right now, at least, it’s living in infamy.
The South Side club was blanked, 2-0, by the Royals on Monday night to fall to 2-14, sitting at the bottom of the American League Central.
And not only was it the team’s 14th loss of the season, it was already the sixth time they were shut out.
Through 16 games, they are now one of only two teams ever in MLB history to be shut out that many times, joining the 1907 Brooklyn Superbas, the team that later became the Dodgers, according to Codify Baseball.
“I just think a lot of these guys are pressing,” manager Pedro Grifol said after Monday’s loss, according to the Associated Press. “But it’s not something we can talk about every single day and use that crutch. We’ve got to make adjustments, plain and simple.”
That Brooklyn squad ended up finishing with 63 wins and fifth out of eight teams in the National League.
Things have been incredibly dismal for the White Sox to start the year, particularly on the offensive side where they have the worst OPS (.568) in baseball and are the only team in Major League Baseball that has not reached double-digits in home runs, slugging just eight total homers.
They’re also hitting .155 with runners in scoring position, second-worst in all of baseball.
Out of the nine hitters that have at least 30 at-bats on the team, six of them are hitting under .200, with catcher Martin Maldanado holding an .065 average with just two hits in 31 at-bats.
Marcus Thames, the team’s hitting coach, said the White Sox’s ignominious start largely can’t get any worse.
“It’s not pretty right now, but eventually it’s going to have to turn around,” Thames told MLB.com over the weekend. “It can’t get any worse.”
The team has been dealing with a bevy of injuries, with stars Yoan Moncada (left adductor strain) and Luis Robert (right hip flexor strain) out of the lineup.
They are, however, bringing in former Mets outfielder Tommy Pham in hopes of boosting what has been an anemic start to the 2024 season.