MLB 2025: Chicago White Sox Over/Under For Wins

• The 2024 Chicago White Sox set the modern MLB record for losses, dropping a mindblowing 121 games
• Just three years earlier, in 2021, they won 93 games and the AL Central title
• Based on the MLB Draft lottery, the White Sox will not even get the first overall pick; they dropped to 10th

Well, They Can’t Be Much Worse in 2025(?)

MLB changed the draft rules and how the order of picks is determined specifically to discourage teams from tanking to intentionally get the chance to draft the best amateur players. It also took other steps, such as rewarding teams for promoting from within.

Still, even if the White Sox were tanking and willfully trying to lose as many games as possible, it would be difficult to put together a team as bad as their 2024 version. It was a confluence of events in a bad way.

Amazingly, the only position player on their roster to have a bWAR above 1 was center fielder Luis Robert Jr. He posted a 1.4 bWAR with a .224/.278/.379 slash line, 14 home runs, and 23 stolen bases.

Top starter and high-end arm Garrett Crochet was traded to the Red Sox. Former top prospect Yoan Moncada was allowed to leave as a free agent to the Angels. Outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets also left as a free agent and signed with the Padres.

The South Siders Added Lightly

Wil Venable was hired to manage the club. Maybe there were better ways to put his Princeton education to use than managing the White Sox.

The club added some recognizable veteran names: lefty pitcher Martin Perez and outfielders Mike Tauchman, Michael A. Taylor, and Austin Slater. They acquired four prospects in the Crochet trade, including former Boston first-rounders Braden Montgomery and Kyle Teel.

The veteran signings were designed to put a major league product on the field to start the season and to give them trade bait at midseason. In particular, Perez will elicit interest on the trade market if he pitches respectably. He is a solid veteran with a wealth of experience.

Owner Jerry Reinsdorf is reportedly open to selling the team, which would be a good thing since it was his unilateral decision to bring back 76-year-old Tony La Russa as manager that played a significant role in their rapid fall from division champs to the worst team in history.

The White Sox Will Again Lose a Lot of Games

If it’s any consolation to White Sox fans, they won’t lose 121 games again. Despite that, they will spend the 2025 season looking at young players like Sean Burke, Mike Vasil, Lenyn Sosa, and Jonathan Cannon and decide on a path forward.

They will win fewer than 55.5 games.