LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Chicago White Sox broke the Major League Baseball (MLB) modern-era record for the most losses in one season on Friday, falling 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers for their 121st defeat of 2024.

The Tigers, who clinched their first playoff berth in a decade with the victory, grabbed the upper hand with two runs in the fifth inning.

Chicago’s Zach DeLoach cut the deficit with a homer in the sixth, but Detroit added a pair of runs in the seventh and the White Sox were on the way to a dubious place in MLB history.

The White Sox had tied the 1962 New York Mets with their 120th loss of the season on Sunday.

Then they stunningly won three straight games against the Los Angeles Angels, twice rallying to avoid being saddled with the outright record for a few more days.

They have two more games against the Tigers in Detroit before they can draw the curtain on the worst season in MLB’s modern era.

It’s no consolation that the 1899 Cleveland Spiders went 20-134.

“It’s not the year we wanted,” said Grady Sizemore, who took over as interim manager when the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol in August.

“It’s not the numbers that we want. But that doesn’t mean it’s a total loss. We can build from this. We can learn from this and get better.”

“We’ll be stronger because of it,” he vowed.

White Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet threw four scoreless innings, striking out six and issuing one walk.

“No real emotions,” Crochet said.

“Obviously, it sucks. We put ourselves in this position early on. We are where we are because of the way we played, which sucks. But that’s just all it is.”

The Tigers scored two runs in the fifth off Chicago reliever Jared Schuster, who walked Jake Rogers, gave up a single to Parker Meadows then walked Andy Ibanez to load the bases.

Rogers scored on a wild pitch and Meadows scored on a sacrifice fly from Matt Vierling and the White Sox were on the ropes.

The White Sox’s historically bad season includes plenty of low points. They set a franchise record with a 14-game losing streak that ended on 7 June, then broke the mark with a 21-game skid that tied the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the longest in American League history.

Ironically, fans had flocked to Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field to see the White Sox claim the record earlier this week, only for them to notch two comeback wins over the Angels before closing their three-game set with a rout on Thursday.

At Comerica Park in Detroit, the long anticipated moment of ignominy was swamped by jubilant celebrations of Tigers players and fans as the club completed their late-season turnaround by booking a first trip to the post-season since 2014.