Few things make a White Sox fan happier than to see their Cubs-supporting friends miserable, which is one reason to watch this weekend’s City Series at Wrigley Field.
Cubs fans welcome back the remnants of the team that was blown apart at the trade deadline, plus some new additions whose names are not on the tip of anyone’s tongue. The upper levels of the Cubs organization expected a negative reaction to the sell-off, especially after team President Jed Hoyer all but announced one on July 8 after the Cubs ended their 11-game losing streak a day earlier.
The “W” flag would be replaced with a plain white one, and the only question was which of the Big 3 — Javier Báez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo — would stay to perhaps build the next great Cubs team around.
The answer, of course, was none. The backlash was so severe even the Cubs were surprised. Chairman Tom Ricketts released a statement praising the Big 3 and Hoyer, wrote an explanatory email to season ticket holders and gave a rare interview, albeit to the Marquee Sports Network, the station the Cubs co-own with Sinclair Broadcasting.
On the other side of town, Sox fans are reveling in a team that’s skating to an American League Central title and just acquired the most dominant reliever in the game, closer Craig Kimbrel, who, by the way, was one of the assets let go in the Cubs dump. When Kimbrel runs out from the Sox bullpen to face his former team, the Cubs probably won’t be playing his theme song, “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”
Sox fans might have to do it a cappella, but they should be loud enough if as many Cubs fans dump their tickets as is speculated. It might not be the mythical “Sox Town” of lore, but it’s definitely the Summer of Sox.
Manager Tony La Russa recalled a Sox fan telling him during spring training in 1984 or thereabouts that the only game he had to win was the Crosstown Classic exhibition against the Cubs. The Sox also have not been winning consistently of late, so to pretend this is just another series is not La Russa’s style.
“We need wins, but it is also realistic that it’s the team in your city, and there is also a lot of rabid interest from either side,” he said Thursday.
Cubs manager David Ross expects the ballpark to be “pretty juiced” all weekend, including a “Sunday Night Baseball” affair that will be televised locally on WLS-Ch. 7, going head-to-head with the Olympics.
“They’ve got a really good team,” Ross said. “I’m sure a lot of their fans will show up. Really, to me Wrigley’s always got some pretty good energy to it. Even when I came at the front end of my career, it’s always got just some juice to it.”
This will be the first meeting between La Russa and Ross, who lost more friends than hair in one 24-hour stretch last week. Both had friends in high places when hired, with La Russa’s relationship with Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf a factor in his unretirement, and Ross a favorite of Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts.
The early angst over the hiring of the 76-year-old La Russa has been muted, at least since Yermín Mercedes decided not to retire after walking out on his team at Triple-A Charlotte. Eloy Jímenez is healthy again after his much-awaited comeback was interrupted by a groin injury. He’s back in the dugout waving to mom but also at breaking balls.
No one is worried, as long as he’s in the lineup, and La Russa said he’ll be starting Friday in left field as there is no DH this weekend in the National League park. It was a little more than two years ago, on July 18, 2019, that Jímenez hit a ninth–inning, game-winning home run off Pedro Strop in a 3-1 win at Wrigley, one of his career highlights.
Ross will be managing at Wrigley for the first time since the Cubs sell-off. It also will be Willson Contreras’s home debut as the Cubs’ marquee player after spending years in the shadows of the Big 3.
While Ross repeatedly uttered his “focus on today” mantra since Hoyer’s July 8th state-of-the-Cubs address, the focus for Ross and the organization now is squarely on 2022, when presumably many of the remaining players will be ex-Cubs. These next two months are basically extended spring training to see which ones make the cut.
Hoyer insisted this rebuild won’t resemble the one from 2012-14, when everyone knew the Cubs were tanking on purpose to get higher draft picks, and that low-risk free-agent pitchers would be signed and flipped by President Theo Epstein after former pitching coach Chris Bosio fixed them.
“Theo’s plan” no longer is possible on the North Side. With a new network to broadcast almost all their games and plenty of advertising to sell — not to mention season tickets and premium clubs — the Cubs can’t afford to take that long and winding road again.
Meanwhile, it could be argued the Sox would not be where they are right now had the Cubs’ plan not succeeded as well as it did.
Sox general manager Rick Hahn was given the benefit of the doubt from fans who watched how it played out on the other side of town. With only a few minor missteps, including former manager Rick Renteria, Hahn executed the rebuild to most everyone’s satisfaction.
Now all the Sox have to do is win it. Sox Fever is at its highest level since the 2005 championship season, and the trade deadline moves only increased the buzz.
Acquiring Kimbrel, who is on pace to set an all-time record for lowest ERA by a reliever, was evidence Hahn and executive vice president Ken Williams were given the green light to do whatever it takes to win this year. Obviously the Sox won’t need two closers in 2022, but picking up Kimbrel’s $16 million option after the season would give the Sox a valuable trading chip while handing La Russa a lockdown bullpen for the final two to three innings.
No matter the stakes, the City Series almost always has lived up to the hype since the one at new Comiskey Park in 1997. La Russa knows this well. He and former Cubs manager Jim Frey butted heads in a cartoon for a famous Crosstown Classic poster in 1986.
The whole world won’t be watching.
But Chicago will, as always.
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