White Sox blow a late lead, set single-season franchise record for futility with their 15th straight loss

(670 The Score) In an ignominious season, the White Sox on Monday lowered the bar for futility.

With an 8-5 setback to the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field, the White Sox suffered a single-season franchise-record 15th straight loss. That broke the record that these same White Sox had set in late May and early June, when they lost 14 straight.

The White Sox lost 15 straight games across the end of the 1967 and the start of the 1968 seasons, but never before has a team in franchise history been so abysmal in a single campaign.

The White Sox's loss Monday was particularly painful because they led 5-2 entering the eighth inning, when the Royals rallied with a six-run frame on the strength of three homers. The deciding blow was Royals star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.'s two-out go-ahead grand slam off White Sox reliever John Brebbia, which gave the game its final margin. Just prior to allowing the grand slam, Brebbia hit a batter and walked a batter to get to Witt, a superstar who hit a low slider out to left field for the homer.

The MLB-worst White Sox dropped to 27-82 with the loss. They're on pace to go 40-122, which would be one of the very worst seasons in MLB history.

In the modern era (since 1900), the 1962 Mets hold the record for most losses in a season with 120. They went 40-120 while playing 160 games.

The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics went 36-117, a .235 winning percentage that's the worst in the modern era. The White Sox's winning percentage is currently .248.

Complicating matters for the White Sox as they look to snap their skid is that they traded three key players earlier Monday, when they sent right-hander Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham to the Cardinals as well as reliever Michael Kopech to the Dodgers in a three-team deal.

The White Sox's last win was a 3-1 triumph against the Twins on July 10. The White Sox will host the Royals on Tuesday evening.