Were there people who showed up to that game specifically to watch the team lose? Almost certainly. But there was also clearly a large group of supporters who love the team and wanted to spend time with them at the park.

There were common complaints — everyone who spoke with NBC News encouraged Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the team — but ultimately still a loyalty among the Chicago faithful on what could have been an infamous night. Some fans even remained defiant.

“It hasn’t been a good season for us, but I’m still going to come,” said Lance Norton, who first started going to games as a kid in 2004. “Everybody has their woes. Eventually, it will be our turn again. And when we do rise up again, I can talk all the smack I want.”

Chicago has been in a downward spiral after back-to-back playoff appearances in 2020 and ’21. The 2022 season was respectable, as the team went 81-81, finishing second in the American League Central.

Things took a turn the next year. Despite signing outfielder Andrew Benintendi to the richest contract in team history (five years, $75 million) and hiring Pedro Grifol as the new manager, the White Sox were pitiful, posting a 61-101 record in 2023. At the trade deadline, Chicago traded away any useful players it did have, but didn’t exactly beef up the farm system in return. The team fired general manager Rick Hahn and Vice President Kenny Williams in August of that year, but promoted Chris Getz to run the front office.

This season, the Sox have posted ignominious mark after ignominious mark.

In a 50-game span ending on Sept. 3, Chicago went 5-45, the fourth-worst 50-game mark in MLB history, and the worst 50-game stretch in more than 100 years. (The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics went 4-46.) The White Sox have posted the most losses in franchise history, a mark they broke on Sept. 1. They’ve had three separate losing streaks of 10 games or longer.

On Aug. 5, Chicago lost its 21st consecutive game, another franchise record, becoming the first team since 1988 to lose at least 21 games in a row. After winning nine games each in May and June, the team won seven games combined in July and August.

Vanzo is part of two separate groups with season tickets, and he’s been attending roughly 20 games a year for about four decades. And the team is no longer bringing him joy.

“This used to be my happy place,” Vanzo told NBC News. “No matter how difficult work was, home life, whatever. Today I come in, and every step from the parking lot, it was more and more of a frown. Because I knew I was going to see an awful product.”

Vanzo, like many fans, keeps coming to the games. In part because he paid for the seats, and also because of the community. (The Sox are fourth-to-last in attendance this year after being 24th last year.)

“I’ve been a White Sox fan my whole life and I love baseball,” said Susan Duffy, a 65-year-old season ticket holder. She first attended a game in 1971, and has had season tickets on and off since 1983. “The people who sit by us are like our baseball family. But this has been a very hard year.”

On Tuesday, she was prepared to witness history.

“I never really can root for them to lose. But if we’re here, we may as well see history,” Duffy said. “We’ve seen all the rest of it. We may as well see that.”

Unlike Duffy, some fans were fully prepared to root against the home team.

“Man, I want to be here for history,” said 34-year-old Anthony Calderon. He normally attends closer to 20 games a year, but was only attending his fourth Tuesday because of how bad the team has been. “I want to see if they’re going to lose. I wanted to say I was there.”

On the more conflicted end of the spectrum were Ken and Mandy Steinhauer, a pair of season ticket holders for more than 20 years.

“I mean, you might as well make history if you’re going to do anything,” said Mandy. But both she and her husband said they would be rooting for the Sox to win, especially if it were a competitive game. 

In typical 2024 White Sox fashion, the team let down quite a few fans on Tuesday, as those who were hoping to witness the historic loss went home unhappy. After a rain delay pushed the start time back by over an hour, Chicago trailed 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning, but miraculously strung together three runs, thanks in part to a dropped pop fly by Los Angeles Angels second baseman Jack Lopez.

The White Sox eventually won the game. As they ran off the field after the final out, they left to more boos than applause.

Not everybody was upset, however.

Mark Berchman is a 57-year-old fan who says there’s no feeling like going to a baseball game in the summer. He went to his first Sox game when he was 12 years old.

“Probably not, no,” Berchman said before the game when asked if he would root for the team to lose. “Because it might give me an excuse to come tomorrow.”