SAN DIEGO — The 1962 New York Mets are no longer the sole standard for Major League Baseball futility after the Chicago White Sox lost their 120th game Sunday 4-2 to the San Diego Padres.
The Sox and Mets share the modern-day record for most losses in a season, a piece of baseball history no team sets out to accomplish.
The Mets went 40-120 in their expansion season. The Sox are 36-120 with six games remaining — three at home beginning Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels and three on the road in Detroit.
“No loss is good,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “(No. 120 is) not something we’re focused on. I think everyone outside of this clubhouse will be more obsessed with it than us.
“We’re going to put this one behind us and get ready for the next series back home.”
The 120 losses are the most in American League history. The Sox surpassed the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who went 43-119.
“I think if you ask all 50 guys who are part of this organization, we are not going to be happy about it,” catcher Korey Lee said. “If you are happy about it, then I don’t know what you are doing here. It’s obviously hard, but at the same time, you’ve got to focus on one day at a time.”
A sellout crowd of 45,197 at Petco Park witnessed the Padres stage an eighth-inning rally Sunday.
Sean Burke pitched six brilliant innings for the Sox, allowing one run on two hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in his second major-league start and third big-league appearance. He left with a lead.
“That lineup is full of guys that I either grew up watching when I was in middle school, high school or some young stars now,” Burke said. “So to go out and have an outing like that against them is good.
“I thought all the stuff was pretty good. I felt like the changeup was much better today than it was last time against Oakland. I was able to utilize that a little bit more. The mix of everything was good.”
Lee got the Sox going offensively, homering to left with one out in the third for the team’s first hit against Padres starter Yu Darvish.
Jurickson Profar tied it with a one-out homer to left in the bottom of the third.
The Sox used the long ball to go ahead 2-1 when Miguel Vargas homered to left with one out in the sixth.
“I feel the first at-bat I saw all his stuff,” Vargas said. “I was just trying to put the ball in play and not try to do too much.”
Sox reliever Prelander Berroa issued a walk to begin the seventh. But it didn’t come back to bite him as he retired the next three batters.
The eighth wasn’t as successful. Berroa surrendered a leadoff double down the left-field line to Donovan Solano. Pinch hitter Luis Arraez followed by slicing an RBI double to left against reliever Fraser Ellard to tie the score.
Pinch runner Brandon Lockridge advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Profar to give the Padres a 3-2 lead.
Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with a home run to left to help complete the three-game sweep. It’s the 24th time the Sox have been swept this season.
“Same as every other loss, they all suck,” left fielder Andrew Benintendi said. “How many there are doesn’t matter to us. … It sucks to have to go through it. No one wants to go through it. That’s where we’re at.”
The Sox went 1-5 on the trip, including two extra-inning losses. They’ve found just about every way imaginable to lose on their way to 120.
They’ve been shut out 19 times, they’ve lost 56 games after leading and they entered Sunday 0-78 when behind after six innings, 0-94 when behind after seven and 0-101 when behind after eight.
The Sox won just three times in July and four times in August, losing 22 games in both months.
They have had three losing streaks of at least 10 games, including a franchise-record 21 straight from July 10-Aug. 5. That slide matched the AL record established in 1988 by the Baltimore Orioles. They came within two of the all-time record held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies.
The 21-game skid ended Aug. 6. The Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol on Aug. 8, with Sizemore taking over on an interim basis.
They made the change at manager and shook up the coaching staff. The roster turnover has led to a franchise-record 63 players participating in at least one game.
The one constant has been the losing, which has led to a season no one will forget.
“We all know the situation, we all know where we’re at,” Sizemore said. “But we still have a job to do, we’re still playing for something. They’re handling it like professionals. We’ll be back out there on Tuesday ready to go and give it our best.”
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