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July 19, 2008

Can Of Corn

Chicago vs. Chicago

by Dayn Perry

Not long ago, you could find civic ads inside many of Chicago's El trains, humorously touting the charms of the South Side in the form of a mock FAQ. In one of them, a mythical and provincially snobby North-Sider asked, "Will my cell phone work on the South Side?"

The joke: Chicago is a city divided, and to many of the city's residents and visitors, the Chicago experience doesn't go south of Roosevelt Road. A sense of entitlement on one hand and a sense of neglect on the other—they've informed the city's divisions for as long as anyone can remember. They also, fittingly and predictably, inform the city's baseball rivalry.

If you take a peek at the PECOTA-Adjusted Playoff Odds Report you'll find that the Chicago Cubs, as of this writing, have a lofty 93.7 percent chance of making the post-season fray. Their Windy City label-mates, the Chicago White Sox, have an only somewhat-less lofty 78.2 percent chance of making it. Obviously, those two figures raise tantalizing possibilities.

It's perfectly conceivable (if still statistically unlikely) that the Cubs and White Sox will meet in the 2008 World Series. If that comes to pass, it would put a blood feud that spans generations on the widest of baseball stages and is, I would argue, the most compelling rivalry in the game today. If Chicago's two teams were to go at it with everything in the balance, it would certainly mean something—a lot, even—to the city and to the game of baseball. But what would it mean?

First, let's acknowledge the rivalry's uniqueness, at least among the interleague varieties. Think of the other border wars that aren't Selig-era contrivances: Yankees-Mets, A's-Giants, Dodgers-Angels. They lack a timelessness that's essential to great rivalries. The Mets didn't exist until 1962, the Angels weren't around until 1961, and the A's didn't make it to Northern California until 1968, 10 years after the Giants made their own cross-country journey. In contrast, the Cubs and White Sox have been playing ball and sharing the same city since 1901.