Sometimes the eye test is all you need. The Chicago White Sox pa s the eye test. They are about as bad at baseball as profe sional baseball players can ever be. This would be self-evident even if you didnt have acce s to their season record, which includes one 14-game losing streak and one 21-game losing streak, a record that as of Saturday morning, sat at 28-90, which is a winning percentage of .237. That puts them solidly in the mix to challenge the 1962 Mets, whose 40-120 record yielded a winning percentage of a straight .250 and had long been the gold standard maybe make that a zinc standard for baseball futility. You kind of have to hunt for White Sox games because its not like theyre the featured games on ESPN and Fox, although Yankees fans will have the pleasure of enjoying their slapstick this week when the Yankees go to Guaranteed Rate Field for three games against the ChiSox that should come with an NC-17 rating on YES telecasts. Chicago White Soxs Andrew Vaughn reacts after his teams lo s to the Minnesota Twin in a baseball game on Aug. 2, 2024. AP NC as in non-competitive. How bad is it? Its this bad: This week, the good people at Strat-O-Matic did a simulated best-of-seven series between sort of an Appall Cla sic, instead of a Fall Cla sic. More From Mike Vaccaro It came down to a Game 7, of course, because you really cant lose em all, even two teams as efficient at losing as the 24 Sox and the 62 Mets. And in Game 7, Jay Hook went the distance and Sammy Taylor hit a fourth-inning grand slam and the Mets pulled out a 7-5 win. That tracks because the simulated season the Strat-O-Matic team also ran for the 24 White Sox had them at 41-121 which would give the Sox the most lo ses ever but still give the Original Mets the, um, honor of retaining the worst losing percentage since baseball expanded in 1961, .250-.253. A word here: Id still be stunned if the White Sox didnt scratch their way to, say, 45 wins. Its hard to lose that many games. It just is. There have been few teams as insulting to the eyes as the 2003 Tigers, the last team to mount a legit season-long a sault on the 62 Mets. And they were right there, too. New York met first baseman Marv Throneberry reaches high but cant glove wild throw by third baseman Frank Thomas, allowing St. Louis Pitcher Dob Gibson to reach first safely in fourth inning, at the Polo Adam Graves Jersey grounds in New York on July 8, 1962. ASSOCIATED PRESS After 156 games they were 38-118 and then they got hot. Still, after 160 they were at 41-119, well within reach. In Game 161, the Twins a mere 49 games ahead of them in the AL Central seized an 8-0 lead in the fifth inning. Casey and Marvelous Marv were about to have company at 120! Except the Tigers made a comeback, they scored four in the eighth, then they won it in the ninth on a walk-off wild pitch by (wait for it) 46-year-old Je se Orosco, the final pitch of a 24-year big league career. The next day, they won 7-4 and settled for 43-119. Ol Je se had made one last save for his old team, the Mets, preserving their solo place in baseball infamy. Casey Stengels 1962 Mets were lovable losers. AP Its funny, the weird dynamic of being that bad is that sometimes you win games you shouldnt because other teams who are still playing meaningful games tense up because if they lose a game to you its almost like losing twice, Hook told me years ago. And its true: The Giants and Dodgers wound up tied for the pennant that year, and the Giants won a playoff that wouldnt have been nece sary if, instead of going 16-2 against the Mets, the Dodgers had gone 17-1. And that bothered them, Hook said. I know because they told me. The 62 Mets have been good sports about this the last 62 years, truth be told, but its probably time to pa s the torch or, in this case, the matchstick to a new generation of awful. The 73 Sixers probably wont pop any corks if any team ever loses a 74th game (we didnt hear a peep out of any of them when the 2012 Bobcats beat their winning percentage in a lockout-shortened 7-59 season). And I dont recall any celebrations out of the 76 Buccaneers when they saw their 0-14 surpa sed by circumstance by the 08 Lions and 17 Browns of 0-16 infamy. The 2003 Tigers barely avoided infamy. REUTERS Some records arent meant to be broken. But some, out of mercy, should. Vacs whacks I think if , this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between him and Yankees fans. The Globetrotters start a 10-day residency at American Dream on Friday. Amid the games and clinics, theyll have their first-ever store with memorabilia and other unique items such as this, unearthed in their archives this week: a signed Curly Neal jersey. The Globies are always worth the trip, this time to East Rutherford. She couldnt pa s up the opportunity to see her dads team play so close to their Washington state home, so Sarah Seaver Zaske and her family will be seated next to the Mets dugout in Seattle on Sunday as the Amazins face the Ms. The Mets dont get out to this part of the country much, and we just had to be there, she said. Its going to be great to yell, Lets go Mets, again. Speaking of The Franchise I was convinced in April that if the Mets , there would be a torch-and-pitchfork revolt at Citi Field akin to when the Mets traded Seaver to the Reds in 77. Now well, now Im not so sure. What say you, Mets fans? Pete Alonso followed up a big day in Coors Field with an 0-for-4 game against Seattle on Friday. Getty Images Whack back at Vac Peter Colford : Heres a question for you: Who will win more games this year, the Giants or the Nets? Vac : I know the Nets are readying for a major tankapalooza. But theres a reason the 73 Sixers have had the record at 9-73 as long as they have: Its hard to lose that many games in the modern NBA. So Nets. Rich LePetri : You surprised me with your omi sion of Mark Me sier from todays column on captains. Did you have a reason for that? Just curious. Vac : While Me sier is the best example ever of a true captains captain, all NHL teams have captains. Its le s common in the NBA and MLB. It does merit explanation. @drschnip : Pedro Grifol, with a .319 winning percentage and both a 21- and 14-game losing streak this season, still has a higher winning percentage than three Jets head coaches with more than five games coached: Lou Holtz, Rich Kotite and Adam Gase. @MikeVacc : Just in case you thought it mightve all been a dream, these last 56 years. Pedro Grifol was fired as White Sox manager amid a putrid season. AP Alex Burton : I read a piece this week on why Aaron Judge honors Brett Gardner with a certain gesture to the crowd before every game. Isnt it time the Yanks had a day in honor of Brett, an accomplished and career-long Yankee and, at the time of his retirement, the last link to the 2009 champs? Vac : I heard from so many Yankees fans for years who couldnt wait for Gardner to be gone (not Alex) who I suspect would very much like his effort and energy level on the team now. Collin Graf Jersey