Shaping Up As Long Summer in Chicago
By Lew Freedman
There are times when there is nowhere better on earth to be than Chicago if you love baseball. One of the few two-team towns, the Cubs on the North side host the National League and the White Sox on the South side represent the American League. You can see the entire Major League world in person within about 10 miles of travel on the El Red Line.
It’s great. Every single hero of the game stops over — for days at a time– in your town during the six-month campaign. And when both teams are in the pennant race, that’s as sweet as it gets. Now both teams never actually win the pennant in the same season–that would be too good to be true–and the fans don’t count on that. The last time both the Cubs and the White Sox were the best teams in their own leagues in the same year was 1906. However, 2012 is shaping up as the year that both the Cubs and the White Sox could be the worst teams in their own leagues in the same year.
When I lived in Chicago I followed both teams closely. I attended more games at U.S. Cellular Field than Wrigley Field for a combination of reasons, not the least being it was easier to buy tickets to see the White Sox than it was to see the Cubs. But every April each team was sent out of the dugout on opening day with the same marching orders to win and win it all. The White Sox did so in 2005, their first World Series championship since 1917. The Cubs, ahem, still have the longest losing streak in professional sport going strong, going without a championship since 1908.
In 2003, the Cubs led the Florida Marlins 3-1 in games in the National League Championship Series. Chicago still led 3-2 with the remaining two games scheduled for Wrigley Field. Then there went the Bartman Ball play and the hopes and dreams of Cubbie fans everywhere.
The Cubs are under new ownership, new front office leadership, and will have new field leadership, but there will be no magic carpet ride in 2012. I figure the Cubs will finish last in the National League Central Division, never mind contend for a title. Forget that, it sounds too optimistic. I will actually be surprised if the Cubs finish higher than last.
And here’s the really bad part. I think the White Sox have caught up to the Cubs, if you call running backwards catching up. Ozzie Guillen has transferred his managerial acumen to the Marlins. Top pitcher Mark Buehrle went the Miami route, too. Outfielder Carlos Quentin was traded away. Only a donut shop has more holes than the Sox do in their lineup.
Pricey designated hitter Adam Dunn is coming off the worst hitting season by any player in baseball history. Alex Rios has been alternately awful and erratic. The bullpen is unsettled. The starting rotation depends on doctor reports and I can’t imagine what’s going through first baseman Paul Konerko‘s head. Mr. Reliable may not be able to drive in 100 runs this coming season if 100 runners don’t even get on base ahead of him.
The karmic convergance shaping up in ChiTown next summer could make the city 2012’s capital of bad baseball.