After Chicagoans stop arguing about who has the best deep-dish pizza and which street cart sells the best Italian sausage, they can all agree that the city loves its sports. When it comes to baseball in the Windy City, you’re either a north-sider or a south-sider. If you reside on the south-side of Chicago, you eat, sleep, and breathe White Sox baseball; while those on the north-side regard Wrigley Field as a religious shrine and live and die for their Cubs. With that being said, let’s dive in and see if either side has anything to cheer about this year!
Chicago White Sox
Almost three weeks through the season, the Chicago White Sox sit in the middle of the American League Central with a record of 7-8. The Sox haven’t won an AL pennant since the 2008 season, although they managed to pull within three games of the Detroit Tigers last year. The White Sox will get a boost when John Danks returns from a stint on the disabled list within the next week. Chris Sale picked up right where he left off last season, having a great outing on Opening Day where he tossed 7.2 innings out shutout ball against the Royals. He did get roughed up by the Cleveland Indians in his last start, but I wouldn’t read too much into that. Closer Addison Reed is also off to a nice start, going five for five in save opportunities and only allowing one earned run in seven innings. As a whole, the pitching staff is doing very well and I’d expect that to continue. The staff’s collective earned run average is 3.55, which is good for ninth in the majors.
On the offensive side of the ball, Alex Rios and Alexei Ramirez are both off to great starts, both batting above .300. Adam Dunn has been a disappointment so far, driving in only five runs through 15 games. His 19 strikeouts place him tied for fourth in the category, but I don’t think that surprises anyone. As a team, the Sox rank 28th in the league in on-base percentage; and as Billy Beane taught us in “Moneyball”, that’s not a good thing. If the offense comes around, which I think it will, the White Sox definitely have a chance to contend for a Wild Card spot. Aside from Jeff Keppinger and Tyler Flowers, the lineup is solid from top to bottom; but they need to start producing to compliment the good pitching staff.
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs are already in the basement of the National League Central with a 5-9 record, which is likely where they’ll stay for the majority of the season. They haven’t made an appearance in the playoffs since the 2008 season, when they won the NL Central by seven and a half games. As expected, Jeff Samardzija is off to a great start. Unfortunately, he can’t pitch seven innings in all 162 games this season. He will have some help though when Matt Garza is able to return to the rotation. He’s scheduled to start a rehab assignment within the next week. Carlos Villanueva has been a pleasant surprise, having only surrendered three earned runs through 21 innings. The Cubs bullpen has been atrocious so far, racking up a combined 6.06 earned run average through 14 games. They have yet to find a reliable closer and are platooning the spot until someone pitches consistently enough to earn the job. Carlos Marmol, Shawn Camp, and Kyuji Fujikawa are all candidates for the position.
The Cubs offense has been very unproductive so far this season. They rank 27th or worse in the majors in runs scored, batting average, and on-base percentage. Anthony Rizzo leads the team in home runs and runs batted in, but is batting a dismal .180 and has struck out 16 times. Starlin Castro and Nate Schierholtz are both having good starts. Castro leads the team in hits with 19, including four doubles, a triple, and two home runs. Schierholtz has added 14 hits, eight of which have gone for extra bases. Alfonso Soriano started out slow but has had a great third week, batting .400 over the last seven days. His bat will need to come alive if the Cubs want to start putting more runs on the board. They definitely need to score more runs, as their pitching staff hasn’t been able to keep opposing teams off of home plate.
Wrap Up
At the end of the day, I don’t think this season will be a happy one for Chicago baseball fans. The White Sox have more upside potential, however it looks like the Detroit Tigers will eventually pull away from the rest of the pack in the AL Central. The key for the Sox will be to stay healthy and ride their pitching staff throughout the season. Unfortunately for the Cubs, it looks like they will be relegated to the bottom of the NL Central all year, although I wouldn’t be terribly surprised is they are battling the Milwaukee Brewers for last place. If their pitching continues to struggle, the lineup really needs to step up and deliver with runners in scoring position. They aren’t going to win many games scoring two or three runs; they really need to pile it on. At the end of the season, I’ve got the White Sox finishing with a record of 84-77. As for the Cubs, I’m predicting a 73-88 mark come the end of September.