Chicago baseball is ready for its close up with Cubs and White Sox – Chicago Tribune
Say goodbye to Draft Town.
And welcome to Baseball City.
Sorry, St. Louis. But this year it can be found 300 miles north on I-55.
From Bridgeport to Wrigleyville, the signs everywhere are the ones workers won’t be taking down Sunday around Grant Park. Ignore the football weather. Just look at the baseball standings.
You will find the Cubs and White Sox with the best records in the National and American leagues, respectively. The last time that happened this late into the season, Whitey Lockman managed the Cubs, ace pitcher Wilbur Wood dominated for the Sox, the Sears Tower opened downtown and gas cost about 40 cents per gallon.
It was May 29, 1973. A whole generation of the city’s baseball fans never has experienced what it is like for the Cubs and Sox to be this good this soon simultaneously. A once-in-a-lifetime vibe at times has accompanied both fast starts. Not since 1907 when they were World Series champions have the Cubs won 17 of their first 22 games. And never have the Sox allowed one or fewer runs in 11 of their first 22 games, according to CSN Chicago.
For a change, the arrival of May Day in the city no longer represents baseball’s first sign of distress.
Who needs the Stanley Cup playoffs and NBA lottery? And what is the hurry to get to Bourbonnais anyway?
This year, Chicago baseball no longer provides a bridge connecting the Blackhawks, Bulls and Bears seasons that nobody wants to cross. Instead, the bandwagons have begun filling fast on both sides of town as fans anticipate the ride of their lives. Before the first day of May, the Cubs and Sox already have given us reason to imagine October. Both the Cubs and Sox made the playoffs in 2008 but this feels different in ways difficult to describe in 140 characters or less or on SnapChat, perhaps because the Sox are such a big surprise and the Cubs have been so accepted as heavy favorites.
When Cubs manager Joe Maddon removed pitcher Jake Arrieta after five shaky innings Thursday on a cold day at Wrigley Field, for example, nobody rolled their eyes when Maddon’s explanation referenced keeping Arrieta fresh for the World Series. With Anthony Rizzo hitting home runs at a record rate and Dexter Fowler playing at an MVP level, to name just two contributors on a team loaded with them, next year actually seems here for the Cubs.
Journeyman catcher Tim Federowicz, Saturday’s temporary fill-in starter, probably will remember his cup of coffee with this Cubs team as vividly as his ninth-inning, game-winning home run for North Carolina in the 2008 College World Series. And the most die-hard of Cubs fans never will forget how to spell Federowicz.
A sense of history looms over every Arrieta start and a buzz accompanies every Cubs game because you never know when, say, Matt Szczur will bring the crowd to its feet with a grand slam. Szczur spelled backward, by the way, is pronounced Friday’s Hero.
Likewise, nobody paying to watch the Sox snickers when analysts have compared the improved baseball intelligence manager Robin Ventura‘s team consistently displays with the 2005 World Series champions. Nobody on the South Side needs Stevie Perry to tell them don’t stop believin’ yet. They see opportunity. They watch a Sox team getting historically dominant starting pitching, running the bases well and playing defense like a group that benefited from the shrewd late addition of center fielder Austin Jackson.
Chris Sale looks headed for a Cy Young season, Jose Quintana continues to establish himself as baseball’s best pitching secret, Adam Eaton appears on his way to the All-Star game and Mat Latos keeps proving the rest of league wrong, one hitter at a time. The Sox bullpen shows signs of being able to protect leads throughout the summer if only an offense that lacks oomph can provide enough of them.
Enter general manager Rick Hahn. Hahn, who deserves credit for finding bargains like Jackson and Latos, faces the problem every executive wants: His team proved early it is good enough to help contend. Now help it by finding another bat the Sox need and fixing the fifth starter dilemma. Even John Danks admitted after his last lousy start how much he is hurting his team. Either Erik Johnson or Jacob Turner at Triple-A Charlotte offer smarter alternatives to Danks, unless pitching coach extraordinaire Don Cooper can fix Miguel Gonzalez after his forgettable Sox debut.
The thing about winning early is that it creates pressure to sustain the success. That’s the kind of heat Hahn likes.
As for the Cubs, they have fewer holes to fill on the majors’ most complete roster. At some point, perhaps Cubs executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer will want to kick the tires on veteran starting pitchers if Jason Hammel slides in the second half, as he tends to do, or search for catching depth once David Ross comes back to earth. But given the Cubs’ talent, their biggest threat isn’t the Pirates or Cardinals as much as complacency or injury, as Kris Bryant spraining his right ankle and Miguel Montero going on the disabled list reminded us. Both Bryant and Montero received promising diagnoses.
And Chicago baseball never has looked healthier. Savor it.
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