How do you feel about the upcoming Cubs/White Sox series?

Twenty-five years ago, interleague play began. The Cubs’ very first interleague game was against the White Sox, on the South Side, June 18, 1997. There was all kinds of hype surrounding the series and 36,213 attended, even though it was on a Monday afternoon. (The other two games of that series were sellouts, over 44,000.)

That was the year the Cubs started 0-14; they entered that series 27-40. The Sox had been expected to contend that year, but they also struggled when that year began and were 30-35 as that set began. The Cubs won the game 8-3 behind solid pitching from Kevin Foster, while teeing off on former Cub Jaime Navarro.

I remember asking a Sox fan at that game, “When the Cubs play Cleveland later this year, would you root for them?” I assumed the answer would be “Yes,” as you’d probably root for any team playing one of your division rivals.

But the answer was, “Oh, no, I could never do that.”

Therein lies the difference, I think, between Cubs and Sox fans. When the Sox play a NL Central team I want them to win every single time.

In recent years there’s been a “Crosstown Cup” or some similar sort of trophy given to the team that wins the most games among the Cubs/Sox contests that year, usually sponsored by some local company.

Attendance at the six Cubs/Sox games in 2021 was robust, with all of them selling at least 37,892 tickets. Part of that can be attributed to the Sox’ division title season and higher interest in that team, plus all the games were in August, when kids are out of school and interest in baseball in general is higher.

But now it’s May, the weather is lousy, and both teams are off to bad starts. I’d expect attendance this week to be lower than usual for Cubs/Sox games. Personally, I have lesser interest in “crosstown rivalry” these days. For me, these are just two more Cubs games on the schedule.

I’ll have a full series preview tomorrow, but I did have a couple of questions I want you to peruse on the Cubs off day.

Here is question one: Do you have less passionate interest in these games than you used to? I can say for sure that I do. For me, Cubs/Sox games are just four (or six) more games on the schedule. (In fact, if MLB adopts the schedule they’ve proposed for 2023 and beyond, it’ll be only four Cubs/Sox games going forward, which is more than enough for me.)

I’ve got one more question for you regarding this series. If you have a cable or satellite subscription within the Cubs/Sox market territory, or if you live outside that territory and subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you should be able to watch the Cubs/Sox games on either Marquee Sports Network with the Cubs broadcast team or NBC Sports Chicago with the Sox announcers.

Question two: Presuming that you, the reader of this article, are a Cubs fan and have access to both channels, which one will you watch these games on?

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