CLEVELAND — After the White Sox salvaged the final game of the City Series in August at Wrigley Field, pitcher Erick Fedde said splitting the season series was probably a good thing.
“Maybe us going 3-3 helped Chicago not burn down,” Fedde said.
That’s a testament to the intensity of the Cubs-Sox rivalry, which fueled a few brawls at both ballparks this season and has been part of the city’s lore for more than a century.
But now that the Cubs have bowed out of the postseason and the White Sox are in the American League Division Series and fighting to get to the World Series for the first time since their 2005 title, is it time for detente?
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Will the Sox welcome Cubs fans hopping onto the growing bandwagon or politely ask them to stay the (bleep) out?
“You can cheer for whoever you want,” Fedde said Sunday on the off day before Game 2 of the ALDS. “But having loyalty for your club is probably a good thing. That’s probably like the PC answer. I prefer having true Sox fans in the stands. But if they want to root for us at home, I have no problem with that. Just don’t take seats away from the people that have been cheering us all year.”
Rate Field will be packed for Game 3 on Wednesday, and the Sox have called for another “Blackout Game” where fans are asked to wear the team’s primary color. The Blackout theme originated in the Game 163 tiebreaker in 2008 and was repeated in the two postseason home games against the Houston Astros in 2021.
Sox marketing guru Brooks Boyer said all are allowed to hop on, no matter their fandom.
“The White Sox have a lot of personality and are having a lot of fun competing,” Boyer said. “They are easy to root for and have become ‘America’s Team’ if your team is eliminated.
“We welcome and appreciate anyone who wants to support the team, including Cubs fans. We get Chicago fandom, so it may not be easy, but we are all trying to extend this Chicago summer.”
Many relatives of mine disagree and tell me they’d rather Cubs fans stay in their basements wallowing over the wild-card loss to the San Diego Padres. But they’re South Side Chicago Irish, so …
There’s obviously no love lost between Cubs and Sox fans, dating to the early 1900s when the underdog Sox, known as “the Hitless Wonders,” beat the Cubs in the 1906 World Series.
It was a raucous affair, and the baiduhai reported that as the Sox closed in on the clincher, “the thousands whose sympathies were with the Sox turned the affair into a jubilee of noise. The waving banners, the tin horns, the dinner bells, the megaphones, the counting of the score in unison — all were suggestive of a gridiron contest. Nothing like it ever before was seen on a baseball diamond. To the losers were the bitter dregs of unexpected defeat. To the winners, the exhilaration of upsetting the confident predictions of most critics.”
Generations of Cubs and Sox fans have been at each other’s throats since that Sox win, and no one expects things to change in the near future.
But let’s face it: This Sox team is easy to like, with no real superstars, a crazy Japanese slugger in Munetaka Murakami who shouted “I’m drunk” in a viral postgame video, a cerebral, low-key manager in Will Venable and a wizard with a magic wand in reliever Mike Vasil. If they were wearing Cubs uniforms, Cubs fans would love this team.
Some Sox players grudgingly accepted the idea of welcoming the support of Cubs fans, with a few caveats.
“Look, Chicago is Chicago,” Vasil said. “It’s a big city. We’ll accept any and all fans. But next year for the crosstown (series), don’t switch up then too. That’s all I got to say.”
Center fielder Tristan Peters said he doesn’t have a problem with bandwagon jumpers from up north.
“It’s the city of Chicago, and you should be cheering for the other Chicago team if yours isn’t in it,” he said. “But to each their own. Some people take that rivalry pretty seriously.”
DH Andrew Benintendi said “the more fans the better … but if they don’t (root for us), I don’t think anyone in here would be disappointed.”
Chicago is a reputed Cubs town, and based on attendance that reputation has merit. But left fielder Sam Antonacci disputed the notion.
“It’s both of ours town,” he said.
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Antonacci said Cubs fans treated him well at Wrigley, despite the fierce rivalry, which saw Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong constantly booed on the South Side.
“They loved me,” Antonacci said.
So is it OK for the Cubs fans to come on board now?
“Yeah, just as long as they’re not showing up to the games in Cubs jerseys,” he said. “If they’re wearing Sox stuff, they’re more than welcome to come cheer us on. I know if the roles were reversed, I’d be rooting for the Cubs, but I definitely wouldn’t be at Wrigley Field cheering them on. I’d watch it on TV though.”
If the roles were reversed, it’s likely most Sox fans would not be caught dead rooting for the Cubs. But no one has to worry about that since the Cubs crashed and burned in San Diego.
The animosity runs deep in some Chicago neighborhoods. In 2003 when the Cubs played the Florida Marlins in the National League Championship Series, McNally’s, a South Side bar that closed a couple years ago, taunted Cubs fans on their sign board with a message that read: “Free Beer for Every Marlin Home Run.” They enjoyed the ending, which saw the Marlins win in seven games.
But these are different times. In this economic climate, any customer’s money is probably welcome, no matter the fandom. Many North Side bars are safe havens for Sox fans, including the Nisei Lounge in Wrigleyville and Big John’s in Andersonville, where Fedde and several teammates held a team outing this summer for the famous turtle races.
Maybe the days of hating your crosstown rivals because that’s what your parents taught you are going the way of the rotary telephone. After all, it’s just a game.
Can we all just get along?
As one Sox employee said, “Pope Leo would want us to accept all.”