The Chicago White Sox are on pace for one of the worst seasons in modern MLB history. They’re at least showing a little self-awareness along the way.
The beleaguered club announced Wednesday it will cut season ticket prices for the 2025 season by an average of 10%, per the Associated Press. Here’s how senior vice president Brooks Boyer explained the perspective behind the decision:
We understand where all the ticket prices are whether its season-ticket prices, secondary market, said Boyer, the teams chief revenue and marketing officer. After looking at that, understanding where we are organizationally, we thought it was important that its something that we do for our season ticketholders who have been very loyal to us.
Teams cutting ticket prices at all is rare, but even rarer is the kind of form the White Sox have displayed this season. The team entered Wednesday with a 29-92 record, which equates to a .240 winning percentage.
That’s not just the worst record in MLB. It’s on pace for the worst winning percentage the league has seen in more than a century. Only the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, with a 36-117 record (.235) have posted a worse winning percentage than Chicago in the modern era (since 1900). The worst record in any section of the history books remains the 1899 Cleveland Spiders at 20-134 (.130).
The White Sox are also on pace to go approximately 39-123, which would break the 1962 New York Mets’ record for the most losses in MLB history. The Mets went 40-120 in their inaugural season.
There’s obviously been no shortage of ugliness for the White Sox this season, from a record-tying 21-game losing streak to the firing of manager Pedro Grifol. What’s more, the team is quite likely to be worse down the stretch after selling at the trade deadline.
There is little reason to expect the 2025 season to be much better barring a transformative offseason, so the team is hoping a price cut will help spur demand.