The ping pong balls did not fall in favor of the Chicago White Sox, as they moved down in the selection order for next summer's MLB Draft.
MLB held its second annual draft lottery Tuesday to determine the order for the first 18 picks, and despite entering with the fourth-best odds at 14.7%, the team slipped one spot to No. 5.
The Cleveland Guardians, on the other hand, will pick first. The Central Division foe had entered the lottery with a 2.0% chance at jumping from No. 9 to No. 1 in the order.
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The White Sox are also hit with a double-whammy of bad news, as they won't be able to pick in the lottery slots in 2025 because they don't receive money in MLB's revenue-sharing plan.
Such "large-market teams" cannot pick in the lottery in consecutive years under MLB rules, and due to that rule, the White Sox will be able to pick no higher than 10th in 2025.
The White Sox would still keep their draft slots in each successive round of that draft, as those rounds are all based on a team's record.
How does the MLB Draft Lottery work?
White Sox News
The top six picks in the MLB Draft are set by the lottery.
All non-playoff teams have a chance to receive a top-six pick, with odds decreasing as you move up the standings. The odds for the three worst teams are identical, a rule that was made to discourage tanking.
Once the top six picks are determined, the remaining non-playoff teams will ordered by inverse standings (worst remaining non-playoff team gets the No. 7 pick, best remaining non-playoff team gets the No. 18 pick). Playoff teams are ordered by when they were eliminated.
Here are the full lottery results and the subsequent draft order for 2024.