We celebrate America’s 250th birthday this weekend, knowing the first 240 years were a spectacular success and the last 10 … not so much.
It’s not fair to blame the end of the Chicago Cubs drought for the drastic change in America, but the timeline seems to match up well.
No matter how we got here, it’s a glorious time for celebrating the United States, and in Chicago that means hot dogs, fireworks, baseball and beer, though not necessarily in that order.
This Fourth of July weekend we’ll be celebrating a season unlike any other in recent memory, one so bizarre it boggles the mind and reminds us the only thing we know about baseball is we don’t know nothin.’
Despite obstacles galore, the Cubs and White Sox are viable contenders entering this weekend, a rare occurrence for two franchises that have been through multiple rebuilds this century.
The Sox began a four-game first-place showdown Thursday in Cleveland with hopes of proving they’re not just an accidental contender in the watered-down American League, losing 6-5 on a walk-off home run off Grant Taylor to fall into a first-place tie with the Guardians. They just finished a “Mune-free” month of June with a 13-12 record while playing a who’s who of big-spending teams and entered July in first-place in the AL Central.
While a .500 record in 2026 would’ve been satisfactory a couple of months ago, Sox fans’ expectations have grown exponentially, putting pressure on general manager Chris Getz to make some moves that can keep the dream alive. Munetaka Murakami should return after the All-Star break, and the Sox can’t afford to waste his special season, especially with a lockout looming in ’27.
The Cubs open a three-game series at Wrigley Field Friday against the archrival St. Louis Cardinals, trying to keep their momentum going despite a patchwork pitching staff and a streaky offense. They’re on the upswing following a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres and a 23-run outburst Wednesday, but we’ve seen how quickly things can change on the North Side.
Crossing your fingers is always a time-proven option for Cubs fans.
So how did we get here? It’s a long story and full of twists and turns that can’t be explained without a pitch-clock violation. But here’s the Cliffs Notes version for those who only start paying close attention to baseball on the Fourth of July.
The Cubs were dreaming big in May with a 27-12 record despite pitcher injuries and slow starts from some of their biggest hitters — Alex Bregman, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki. Ben Brown moved into the rotation and began to dominate, and the Cubs had multiple 10-game winning streaks for the first time since 1935. And it was only May 8.
“It’s crazy,” Nico Horner said after the second double-digit streak. “Baseball is a game full of a ridiculous amount of stats and things to look up. Any time you have to go that far back, it’s obviously a good sign, especially on a positive like that. Just going to keep it rolling.”
The rolling slowed to a halt, and the Cubs soon went in the opposite direction with a 10-game losing streak. No one was hitting, and the injuries continued to pile up. Shortly after Crow-Armstrong had a viral incident spewing profanities at a heckling White Sox fan, manager Craig Counsell moved Crow-Armstrong into the leadoff spot on May 23 in Houston to shake things up.
Crow-Armstrong was hitting .228 with six home runs, 22 RBIs and a .628 OPS, and it seemed like a desperate option. After a week or so, Counsell was asked in St. Louis if he would leave Crow-Armstrong there the rest of the way.
“We don’t have to make out a lineup out for September 1,” he replied, blowing off the question.
But Crow-Armstrong stayed there, and his home run into a group of bare-chested Cardinals fans chanting “over-rated” on May 30 at Busch Stadium seemed to flip the narrative. Being a villain paid off. Crow-Armstrong now leads all leadoff men with a .364 average and a .736 slugging percentage in 32 games in the top spot. Swanson and Suzuki began hitting in mid-June, and the Cubs have won 15 of 19 after falling to .500 for one day.
They’re still waiting for Bregman to return to form, and the current bullpen is basically Caleb Thilebar, Jacob Webb and a collection of relievers who didn’t know they’d be in the major leagues back in spring training.
But the streaky Cubs are off in yet another direction and somehow rank third in runs scored (448) and OPS (.754) despite all the angst about the offense. Counsell is having his best season as Cubs manager, refusing to make panic moves to satiate fans or the media. He stayed the course when fans were crying out for Swanson to be benched, and now Swanson is among the league leaders with 57 RBIs, including 26 in the last 10 games.
It’s been a zigzag journey for sure, but that’s part of what makes the Cubs so fascinating to watch.
On the South Side, the White Sox made an early statement on April 7 that the old ways were over, sending opening-day starter Shane Smith to Triple-A Charlotte to work on his control issues. Smith was their only All-Star in 2025 and was expected to lead the rotation again. “He knows it will be a short-term thing and getting right back to what we expect him to do in the big leagues,” Getz said at the time.
Smith hasn’t returned, and the Sox have made due with three starters in potential All-Star Davis Martin, Sean Burke and Anthony Kay, plus a bulk starter in Erick Fedde, an unproven rookie in Noah Schultz and a boatload of openers and spot starters.
The starters have been middle of the pack, ranked 15th on Thursday with a 4.34 ERA, with the fewest total innings (367 1/3) because of the employment of openers and manager Will Venable’s reliance on the pen. That bullpen was second in innings (385 1/3) and ranked 16th with a 4.13 ERA but includes three reliable leverage pitchers in Taylor and lefties Bryan Hudson and Sean Newcomb.
Venable has pulled the right strings so far. The Sox are 17-11 in one-run games following Thursday’s loss, after going 15-36 in that category last year. The loss of Murakami to a hamstring injury in late May was a huge blow after his 20 home runs made him a new Sox sensation. But Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery and Sam Antonacci have kept the offense going, and veterans Andrew Benintendi and Randal Grichuk have provided leadership while making contributions at the plate.
Benintendi’s grand slam June 18 at Yankee Stadium in a 5-1 win over the New York Yankees might have been the biggest moment of the season, coming after two shellackings by the Yankees. The Sox compiled a .768 OPS in June, almost the same as their .763 OPS with Murakami healthy in May.
Making the postseason two years removed from a record-setting 121-loss season would be a story Sox fans would talk about forever. You can almost see marketing guru Brooks Boyer planning the 10-year reunion of the 2026 team, with a special postgame concert by DJ Khaled.
Like the Cubs, the Sox still need pitching, but Getz has said repeatedly he’d be a buyer if they were contenders at the trade deadline.
It’s about time to prove it.
