The terrible — and not so terrible — last decade for the White Sox

Jose Abreu and Chris Sale were two of the highlights of the 2010s for the White Sox.

By Bill Chuck

During difficult times, Jose Abreu has been the White Sox’ best player and a loyal member of the organization.

From 2010 to 2019, the White Sox had their worst decade since the 1930s

In the 2010s, the White Sox finished 200 games out of first place, scored 6,790 runs and allowed 7,483, a run differential of minus-693.
2010: most wins; 2018: most losses.
In the 1930s, the Sox finished 336 games out of first place, scored 7,389 runs and allowed 8,322, a run differential of minus-933.

Player of the decade

Jose Abreu — He joined the Sox in 2014 and was the American League Rookie of the Year. That season, he won the first of his two Silver Slugger Awards, finished in the top 20 in MVP voting for the first of four times and was named to the All-Star team for the first of three times. In six seasons, he has hit 179 home runs, driven in 611 runs and hit an impactful .293. Coming off a season in which he led the AL in RBI, Abreu has consistently been a bright light during the Sox’ dark times. Now with a dangerous lineup surrounding him, we’ll see if he can help lead this team to the postseason.

Pitcher of the decade

Chris Sale — From 2010 to 2016, Sale went 74-50 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.065 WHIP. He was a five-time All-Star and finished in the top six in Cy Young voting five times and twice in the top 20 in MVP votes. From 2012 to 2016, only Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw had more strikeouts than Sale’s 1,133. When the Sox traded Sale to the Red Sox for infielder Yoan Moncada and pitcher Michael Kopech, Rick Morrissey presciently wrote on these pages about the Sox’ rebuild, “This is going to take time, if done properly. And it’s going to hurt. There might be three years of pain before anyone knows if the prospects can play and if the plan, lower case, works. Stock up on Advil, Sox fans.” It’s time to see if the rebuild has worked.

2010-2019 highs and lows

The Sox had three games in which they hit six homers, their high for the decade.
On Sept. 14, 2017, the Sox had 25 hits against the Tigers, their high for the decade.
On July 3, 2012, the Sox beat the Rangers 19-2, their high for runs for the decade, and had 21 hits, their second-highest total.
On Aug. 7, 2018, the Sox lost 4-3 to the Yankees in 13 innings and struck out 20 times, their high for the decade.
The Sox threw 84 shutouts from 2010 to ’19, tossing 14 in 2011.
Sox pitchers had 16 complete-game shutouts from 2010 to ’19; Jake Peavy and John Danks each threw three.
Chris Sale had two 15-strikeout games, the most for any Sox pitcher in the decade. Sale also had five 14-strikeout games.
The biggest draw of the decade was on Sept. 22, 2018, against the Cubs when 39,724 saw the Sox lose 8-3.

Honors of the decade