The 2024 Chicago White Sox are a bad baseball team. They're one of the worst MLB clubs to ever take the field as they're on pace for historic futility. In fact, they're so bad at baseball, that everyone now suddenly feels the need to comment on just how bad they are.
While the most ardent followers of Chicago's South Side baseball team expected a rough 2024 campaign, this year's version of the White Sox has reached an extraordinary level of bad. It's to the point where they've become such a mockery of the sport that it brings about comments and stories from outlets that don't even cover the team on a regular basis.
For the typical consumer of White Sox baseball, it's one thing to finish third or fourth in the AL Central and catch the wrath of a division rival fan or a snide remark from a Cubs fan co-worker. It's another when the team becomes a national news story for all the wrong reasons. And that's unfortunately what the White Sox have become over the past two seasons.
From fans mysteriously getting shot in the outfield bleachers mid-game with no explanation to players falling asleep in the bullpen last season and now losing (getting shut out of) baseball games at a historic pace, the White Sox have quickly found themselves in another position to make headlines for the wrong reasons.
Those who still tune in to watch the games know exactly how far this team has fallen. What was once a promising group on the brink of taking the next step toward World Series contention quickly fell past the mired-in-mediocrity mark it once aimed to surpass and into the seventh level of baseball hell. Those who stopped watching also know. They'll most certainly let you know just how bad the White Sox are and that they stopped watching, with a much greater emphasis on the latter anecdote.
It's a tough place to be.
But somehow, it doesn't seem as tough for those in charge of the 3-21 White Sox. Manager Pedro Grifol is still explaining how tomorrow is a new day and how the team just needs to execute. General manager Chris Getz is preaching patience. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf is busy attempting to extract taxpayer money to fund a new stadium.
Meanwhile, things are going so poorly on the field that outlets that rarely, if ever, even recognize the White Sox are taking time out of their busy schedules to write things like this:
Even T-shirt companies are getting their licks in at the White Sox falling past rock bottom.
Obvious Shirts, which began as a Chicago Cubs-centric clothing line, has launched a campaign focused on White Sox misfortunes, though it's purportedly for a decent cause of supporting White Sox content creators.
Obvious Shirts' decision to donate profits to White Sox creators can be seen as a commendable gesture. However, from a White Sox fan's perspective, the motivation behind this move might be questioned. It could be argued that the company's actions are driven by a desire to reinforce the notion that the Cubs are the dominant force in Chicago baseball. The Obvious Shirts folks may just genuinely feel bad for their South Side brethren, but the gesture will inevitably lead to more Sox mocking from their primary customer base.
Everyone wants a piece of just how bad the White Sox are right now. That should be the ultimate red flag.
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