Will the White Sox lose 120 games again? Could someone else lose more? What to expect from MLB’s worst team
Last time we saw the Chicago White Sox, they were putting the finishing touches on an MLB record 121-loss 2024 season. Since then, they have traded away their best player — ace Garrett Crochet — in a winter move and added, well, not a whole lot in free agency.
Does that mean Chicago could be just as bad in 2025? Which veterans could be traded away this season? And could anyone else in the majors finish with a worse record than the White Sox? ESPN MLB experts Buster Olney, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield weigh in.
How does the White Sox roster entering Opening Day compare to last season?
Olney: The first chapter of the rebuild is behind them, and the White Sox have parted ways with a bunch of veterans they had in 2024 — from the trades of veterans like Eloy Jimenez, Michael Kopech and Crochet to the departure of free agents like Yoan Moncada. Naturally, then, their roster is largely filled with young and unproven players. The White Sox will be open to more deals for the experienced players they still have, like Luis Robert Jr., because those guys probably won’t be around when the team becomes competitively relevant again. The White Sox hit rock bottom last year, and now they start what is likely to be a long, slow climb.
Rogers: Younger and less experienced — especially on the mound, where 25 year-old Sean Burke got the Opening Day nod. Add Jonathan Cannon (24), Davis Martin (113 career IP) and the injured Drew Thorpe to the mix, and the Sox won’t be starting anyone with any name recognition outside of veteran Martin Perez.
The lineup can’t be worse to start the season than last year’s edition — but it could be just as bad, as it features only three players with any real experience: Andrew Vaughn, Andrew Benintendi and Robert. Top prospect, shortstop Colson Montgomery, was just sent down to the minors so his debut will be delayed. But newcomer Mike Tauchman will provide professional at-bats and perhaps a full season of Miguel Vargas will pay off. The roster is different but remains to be seen if it’s better in any way.
Schoenfield: The 2024 team had more known names — Robert, Moncada, Jimenez, Benintendi, Paul DeJong and Martin Maldonado were all in the Opening Day starting lineup, for example. But that group was collectively awful, combining for negative WAR.
What the 2024 White Sox did have, which we didn’t know on Opening Day, was two excellent starting pitchers in Erick Fedde and Crochet, although Fedde was dealt to the Cardinals at the trade deadline. And now Crochet is gone as well. So, on paper, you could argue the 2025 White Sox look just as bad as last season.
How many more — or fewer — games will the White Sox win this season than they did last season?
Olney: You would think that the trade of one of the most dominant starting pitchers in the league would impact their bottom line of wins and losses, but it wasn’t exactly like they tore it up on the days that he pitched — they went 9-23 in the 32 games Crochet started last year. The other four teams in the division are all improved and competing for playoff spots, which won’t help the White Sox, but you’d think that the new season will help the day-to-day culture. Last year, there was so much negativity around the team because of the early losing, questions about when manager Pedro Grifol might lose his job and the impending trades. That’s behind them now, and there is almost always a refresh under a new skipper — Will Venable, in this case. So I think they’ll win more games, but not many. I’d put them at 45-117.
Rogers: I think the Sox will get off to a bad start. New manager Will Venable doesn’t have much to work with in the bullpen while Benintendi has been slowed by a hand injury. But unlike last year when they tanked coming out of All-Star break, expect the White Sox to win more games in the second half. Montgomery’s debut will be a jolt, as will the potential of seeing top picks Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz on the mound for Chicago at some point. Even the current rotation will be better later in the season. The team will just look better as the season goes along. The result will be a 54-108 record.
David Schoenfield: Only the 1962-63 Mets have lost 110 games in consecutive seasons, so it’s really hard to be this awful two seasons in a row (although the Orioles lost 115 and then 108 in 2018-19). The White Sox will improve: Let’s go with 56-106.
Who will be the best player on their team this season?
Olney: No doubt about it: Robert. Other teams see him as a player with value when he’s healthy. Maybe the most important question for Chicago’s big-league team this year will be how many games Robert plays leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, because the more he plays, the more he’ll produce — and the higher his value is. There will be teams interested in trading for him, but what they’ll be willing to pay will be directly tied to whether he stays on the field and if he hits.
Rogers: If it’s not Robert then he’s injured again, not as good as we thought or wearing a different uniform after a trade. He’s easily their best talent. Outside of that, don’t put it past Tauchman to be their most consistent hitter. Benintendi and Vaughn have a lot to prove.
The bottom line is the White Sox are a year away from their best player coming from their talented prospect base. Perhaps then it will be Montgomery or one of those stud pitchers. For now, it’s Robert — though with some doubts about his ability to stay healthy.
Schoenfield: I suppose Robert is the easy answer, given what he did in 2023 (38 home runs, 5.3 WAR). But he’s injury-prone, was terrible last season and might be traded. But there’s also no clear No. 2 choice. If Tauchman is any good, he’ll be traded. Same with Perez. Maybe one of the starting pitchers is good or Schultz comes up and dominates for 15 starts or Chase Meidroth posts a .400 OBP or something. But probably not. So Robert.
Who will be the biggest name traded by the White Sox this season?
Olney: They’ve got a couple of other interesting players on their roster capable of rebounding, like Benintendi, but if Robert plays well, he could be this year’s Crochet, with multiple teams angling to make a deal for him.
Rogers: Definitely Robert. He’s gone in July if he puts up any numbers in the first half.
Schoenfield: Robert is the easy answer, but there’s a scenario where he’s good, all the prospects take off and the White Sox start thinking they could be competitive as soon as 2026 and keep Robert through 2027. So I’ll go with Tauchman.
Will they be the worst team in baseball again — and if not, who will pass them for the honor?
Olney: No doubt, they will be the worst. The Miami Marlins are a year ahead of Chicago in the rebuild process, and while the Marlins could win a third of their games, that might be a stretch for the White Sox.
Rogers: It’s close between the White Sox and Marlins, but Miami can pitch a little. I’ll say the White Sox finish with the worst record — but still improve by about 15 games!
Schoenfield: I think so. The Marlins might give them a run, especially since they’ll probably trade Sandy Alcantara, but Miami should have a decent enough bullpen to prevent the worst record.
The 150th running of the Preakness won’t have the fanfare of previous years.
There will be no Triple Crown on the line and no rematch of the 1-2 finishers in the Kentucky Derby after trainer Bill Mott elected to point Sovereignty toward the Belmont and bypass the Preakness.
Just three horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby will run in the Preakness on Saturday — Journalism, who finished second to Sovereignty, American Promise (16th) and Sandman (seventh). Nine horses will enter the race, including several newcomers to the Triple Crown trail.
Top storylines
While a Kentucky Derby winner skipping the Preakness is a rarity over the history of the race, it’s become more common in recent years. Country House, who won the 2019 Kentucky Derby after Maximum Security was disqualified, was not entered into the race by Mott due to a cough. Other ailments ended his career early and he never raced again.
Rich Strike was not entered in the 2022 Preakness and neither was 2021 winner Mandaloun, who was not declared the official winner of the Kentucky Derby until Medina Spirit was officially disqualified after failing a postrace drug test.
The modern order of the Triple Crown races, with the Kentucky Derby first and the Belmont last, was established permanently in 1932, with some exceptions. Notable Kentucky Derby winners who skipped the second leg are: Grindstone (1996, career-ending injury), Spend a Buck (1985), Gato Del Sol (1982), Tomy Lee (1959), Swaps (1955), Determine (1954), Hill Gail (1952), Count Turf (1951) and Lawrin (1938).
This will be the final Preakness run at Pimlico for several years, as the 155-year-old track is set to undergo renovations for the next several years, including the replacement of the current grandstand for a smaller version. The Preakness will move to Laurel Park until renovations are complete.
Betting the Preakness
by Katherine Terrell
What’s the big draw now that the Kentucky Derby winner is out of the race? Journalism, who went off as the betting favorite in the race, gets a chance for redemption.
While putting Journalism on top of our Kentucky Derby bets didn’t quite pan out, he’s certainly going to be a worthy, and heavy, favorite in this race. Don’t take his second-place finish as a knock on his talent — he’s the most accomplished horse in this field.
What about Sandman, who drew significant attention in the Kentucky Derby due to his name? Sandman was named after the Metallica Song “Enter Sandman,” and the band recently posted a video cheering him on ahead of the Preakness.
Sandman’s trainer Mark Casse said the horse had tender feet going into his last race, causing him to sport glue-on shoes, but he has since been switched back to normal horseshoes. Sandman is a closer, meaning he would need a fast pace up front to be able to pass tiring horses and win this race.
Some of the more intriguing newcomers are Goal Oriented, trained by Bob Baffert and Steve Asmussen trainee Clever Again. Both are lightly raced, and bettors who are looking for better odds than Journalism provides might hope one of these two horses takes a step forward.
That’s the same situation as Gosger, who is 20-1 on the morning line but recently won the Grade III Lexington Stakes. He will also have to take a step forward or hope Journalism runs poorly off two weeks rest.
Journalism can sit back off the pace and hope the leaders get into a speed duel, a possibility with a lot of speed in the race. Either way, he’ll be a tough favorite to bet.
About the above chart: A Beyer number is a ratings system for speed during races. Some think horses need at least one race where they run a 95 Beyer number or over to be competitive in the Derby. Many of these horses have races where they’ve run over a 100 Beyer number or better.
The logical bet: Journalism to win (8-5) but will require a large bet to get a decent return.
The slightly better odds bet: Clever Again to win (5-1)
Two suggested bets:
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Exacta box: Journalism/Clever Again
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Trifecta: Journalism over Clever Again over River Thames, Gosger.
Best plays
by Anita Marks
No. 2 Journalism (8-5) is favored and rightfully so. He ran a great race in the Derby, but Sovereignty was just the better horse that day. With such a small field (nine horses), along with his pedigree, Journalism should dominate.
Other horses I fancy in the Preakness:
Clever Again (5-1) is a unique animal with a lot of talent. I believe he is the second-best horse in the race. Son of American Pharaoh — who won the Triple Crown — and trained by Steve Asmussen, an excellent trainer. He is super fast, is in great form and is training well.
Goal Oriented (6-1): A Bob Baffert horse. and will have one of the best jockeys on his back in Flavien Prat. He has the speed to come out of the No. 1 post and will be sent hard. Son of Not This Time and was the winner of a 1 1/16-mile race on the Kentucky Derby undercard. This will be his third race.
Preakness Plays:
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To win or place: Clever Again
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Exacta box: Goal Oriented, Journalism, Clever Again
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