White Sox 5, !Oakland A’s 1. The streak is busted.
However, there are 46 games left in the season. There’s enough room to start a new record-breaking streak.
Currently, the Sox are 28-88, for a .241 winning percentage. Right now, that projects out to about 123 losses.
The Chicago White Sox lost to the Soon To Be Oakland No Longer But Nobody Knows Where They Will End Up A’s last night, 5-1.
This is the 21st consecutive loss for the White Sox. That ties the American League record for most consecutive losses (with the 1988 Baltimore Orioles). The National League record in the “modern” (post-1900) era is 23, held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies.
The overall record is 26 straight losses, surprisingly held not by the Cleveland Spiders, but by the 1889 Louisville Colonels.
The White Sox are currently 27-88, for a .235 winning percentage. By my math (and ESPN’s agrees with me) that’s a projected 124 losses, “which would be the most losses since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League went 20-134.” For comparison purposes, the 1962 New York Mets, who hold the modern era record in Wikipedia, went 40-120. So I’ve got high hopes for the White Sox.
They play the A’s again tonight. The A’s are the favorite, but ESPN has it about 60-40. So maybe the Sox might get the dead cat bounce and pull one out? Even if they do, there’s probably still enough margin in there to keep them in contention for the worst MLB team of the modern era.
The White Sox are on a tear.
They’ve lost 10 games in a row, and are at 27-77 right now, for a .260 winning percentage.
If my math holds up and trends continue, it looks like they will lose 120 games this season, which is in the “historical” range.
Looks like the All-Star Game is tomorrow, and we’re at the break. So it is probably a good time to check on a few MLB teams.
The Chicago White Sox seem to have gained a hap or two. They are currently at 27-71, with a .276 winning percentage. That works out to about 117 losses if my math is right. I think that’s good enough to qualify for the MLB historical list, but perhaps not as bad as I was hoping for. Then again, I was hoping for “1899 Cleveland Spiders” bad. And you know, that projection might be off. 120 losses is still in play.
The Marlins are at 33-63, .344. That works out to 106 losses, which I don’t think is quite record worthy. After Miami, Colorado is 34-63, .351, projecting out to 105 losses. Also probably just out of record contention.
Our long national nightmare is trudging to an end.
The NBA regular season ended yesterday.
Detroit finished 14-68, for a .171 winning percentage. That’s bad, but it just missed historically bad.
Washington finished 15-67, for a .183 winning percentage. Again, bad, but short of historically bad.
In case you were wondering, there are no MLB teams that can go 0-162 this season. But the Chicago White Sox are 2-13, for a .133 winning percentage. Projecting that out, that’s about 140 losses this season, which I think is well within the margins of historically bad. As a matter of fact, if this holds up, it would be within striking distance of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.
It looks like the NBA All-Star break is upon us.
How are the Detroit Pistons doing?
Well, at the break, they are 8-46, for a .148 winning percentage. The Washington Wizards are 9-45, for a .167 winning percentage.
Projecting this out, and assuming things remain the same, the Pistons will win about 12 games, and the Wizards 13.7 games.
That’s not good, but is it historically bad?
Actually, maybe, yes.
I had a hard time finding a list of worst NBA teams. You’d think that would be a Wikipedia page, but no. ESPN has one, but it hasn’t been updated recently.
I finally found this page (from December of last year).
The 1993-94 Dallas Mavericks and 2004-05 Atlanta Hawks both went 13-69, and are #9 and #8 on the list. The Wizards could fit comfortably in there.
The 2009-10 New Jersey Nets and 1986-87 Los Angeles Clippers all went 12-70, and are #7 and #6 on the list. Detroit could fit comfortably in there.
If I’m off by one (or two) in my projections, they could match the 1997-98 Denver Nuggets (11-71, #5) and the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks (11-71, #4). I can’t see either team reaching the heights of the 2015-16 Philadelphia 76ers (10-72, #3) or the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers (9-73, #2, and the team I think most people agree is the worst ever).
#1 on the list is the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats, with a winning percentage of .106. However, there was a lockout that season, and they only played 66 games. As a personal rule, I generally do not take into account strike (or lockout) shortened seasons when I’m looking at this stuff.
I think everyone knows that I am not a basketball fan.
However, I am compelled to note that the Detroit Pistons are setting records.
They lost their 28th consecutive game last night. This ties the record for longest NBA losing streak, and sets the record for longest losing streak in a single season.
(Philadelphia lost 28 consecutive games, but that was across the 2014 and 2015 seasons.)
Their next game is on Saturday against Toronto: ESPN currently has Toronto as a 70-30 favorite.
Detroit is currently 2-29, for a .065 winning percentage.
Alex Grinch out as defensive coordinator at USC.
Bonus loser update: Memphis finally won a game, so there are no NBA teams left that can go 0-82 this season.
I feel an obligation to say something about the Texas Rangers winning the World Serious.
I was thinking about making a “Damn Yankees” reference, but it turns out that’s the wrong Washington Senators. Good thing I checked first.
NBA teams that still have a chance to go 0-82:
Memphis
Kind of looks like a bad year for bears. And it started out with such promise…
Houston sports teams will always break your heart.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:
None.
That’s a wrap for this year. Maybe. We’ll see how the NBA looks later on this week.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:
Carolina
Next week, Carolina and Houston (along with a few other teams) have a bye week.
I call out Carolina and Houston specifically because they play each other in week 8 (on October 29th): it will be a home game for Carolina. As I write this (and with the understanding that this is two weeks out) Houston is favored.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-17:
Carolina
Not much more to say, really.