White Sox Have Good Chance To Be Just Second Team With Leader In Both ERA+ And OPS+ To Finish With A Losing Record

Sale leads with a 187 ERA+. Felix Hernandez is 2nd with 170. Jose Abreu leads with a 175 OPS+. Victor Martinez had 166. Most teams have about 20-23 games left, so Sale and Abreu have a good chance to lead the league. The White Sox are 63-77, so finishing with a winning record will be very tough. Now Sale missed 5-6 starts earlier in the year. If we gave them 4 more wins, they are still just 67-73.

The only previous team to have a losing record with both leaders was the 1996 Marlins. Tables below show the cases for the NL and AL going back to 1901. The Marlins were 80-82 that season. So the Sox are on track to be the worst team ever with both leaders by a good margin.

I found 31 teams before this year and only 3 of them finished below .550. 13 finished above .600. Here is the NL:

Year	Batter	OPS+	Pitcher	ERA+	Team Pct
2009	Albert Pujols   (STL)	189	Chris Carpenter	182	0.562
2003	Barry Bonds  (SFG)	231	Jason Schmidt	180	0.621
1996	Gary Sheffield   (FLA)	189	Kevin Brown	215	0.494
1980	Mike Schmidt   (PHI)	171	Steve Carlton	162	0.562
1969	Willie McCovey  (SFG)	209	Juan Marichal	168	0.556
1965	Willie Mays   (SFG)	185	Juan Marichal	169	0.586
1958	Willie Mays   (SFG)	165	Stu Miller	155	0.519
1956	Duke Snider  (BRO)	155	Sal Maglie	139	0.604
1954	Willie Mays   (NYG)	175	Johnny Antonelli	178	0.630
1953	Eddie Mathews  (MLN)	171	Warren Spahn	188	0.597
1948	Stan Musial  (STL)	200	Harry Brecheen	182	0.552
1946	Stan Musial  (STL)	183	Howie Pollet	165	0.628
1943	Stan Musial  (STL)	177	Max Lanier	178	0.682
1936	Mel Ott  (NYG)	177	Carl Hubbell	169	0.597
1935	Arky Vaughan  (PIT)	190	Cy Blanton	159	0.562
1934	Mel Ott  (NYG)	168	Carl Hubbell	168	0.608
1915	Gavvy Cravath   (PHI)	170	Pete Alexander	225	0.592
1903	Fred Clarke  (PIT)	164	Sam Leever	159	0.650

Here is the AL

Year	Batter	OPS+	Pitcher	ERA+	Team Pct
2014	Jose Abreu   (CHW)	175	Chris Sale	187	0.450
2013	Miguel Cabrera   (DET)	187	Anibal Sanchez	163	0.574
1995	Edgar Martinez   (SEA)	185	Randy Johnson	193	0.545
1979	Fred Lynn *  (BOS)	176	Dennis Eckersley	149	0.569
1958	Mickey Mantle+ #  (NYY)	188	Whitey Ford	177	0.597
1943	Charlie Keller *  (NYY)	167	Spud Chandler	198	0.636
1939	Jimmie Foxx+   (BOS)	188	Lefty Grove	185	0.589
1938	Jimmie Foxx+   (BOS)	182	Lefty Grove	160	0.591
1937	Lou Gehrig+ *  (NYY)	176	Lefty Gomez	193	0.662
1934	Lou Gehrig+ *  (NYY)	206	Lefty Gomez	176	0.610
1932	Jimmie Foxx+   (PHA)	207	Lefty Grove	160	0.610
1927	Babe Ruth+ *  (NYY)	225	Wilcy Moore	171	0.714
1920	Babe Ruth+ *  (NYY)	255	Bob Shawkey	156	0.617
1903	Nap Lajoie+   (CLE)	169	Earl Moore	163	0.550

 
Annual OPS+ Leaders

Annual ERA+ Leaders