Two glaring questions on the minds of Chicago baseball fans three weeks into the 2023 season:
— Are the White Sox as awful as their 7-12 record indicates?
— Are the Cubs as totally awesome as Marquee Sports Network analyst Rick Sutcliffe seems to believe?
The simple answer to both questions probably is no.
But recent events already have Sox fans in a deep funk and Cubs fans cautiously optimistic the tide has finally turned on the North Side.
The Sox, who haven’t won a single series after dropping the rubber game Wednesday to the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2, have too much talent to continue on a 102-loss pace. The 11-6 Cubs, who swept the Oakland Athletics with a 12-2 victory to end their West Coast trip 5-1 and capture their fifth straight series, can’t possibly be a 105-win team.
But that’s the beauty of April, when teams get an opportunity to show that everything they worked on in spring training can translate to the regular season. The Sox obviously haven’t lived up to their spring promise, while the Cubs have exceeded the expectations of all but the most optimistic of fans, including the aforementioned Mr. Sutcliffe.
Let’s start with the Sox, a team that general manager Rick Hahn said Friday is in “prove it” mode after the utter disappointment of 2022. The only thing they’ve proved so far is how difficult it is to draw fans in April without SoxFest as a marketing tool.
I sat in the stands for the first 3½ innings of Wednesday’s loss on a gorgeous afternoon on the South Side, soaking in the sun and watching starter Mike Clevinger fidget his way through 75 pitches.
The announced crowd of 10,149 was in a mellow mood beforehand. Because the Sox closed off the upper deck, anyone who wanted to could find a seat in the sun, and lines at the beer stands were relatively short. And the fans were thoroughly geeked when Andrew Vaughn’s two-run home run put the Sox on top in the first.
But most of them were doing a slow burn by the fourth, when Clevinger threw 44 pitches and gave up a pair of runs to put the Sox in a 5-2 hole. Coincidentally, “Slow Burn” also was the name of Clevinger’s walk-in music, a bit of progress after he made the unfortunate choice of Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” for his first home start.
Clevinger seemingly hoped to make a statement about his life that night, but like most great artists he didn’t want to explain his musical inspiration afterward, leaving it to the listeners to come up with their own interpretation. “Slow Burn” could have many meanings.
The music the Sox played for Clevinger when he warmed up in the first was Trick Daddy’s “Let’s Go.” Not sure the vibe they were going for, but it failed.
Clevinger was removed after the fourth, leaving the bullpen to mop the floor. The Sox offense couldn’t kick in the door either, going scoreless the last eight innings.
The Sox now face a grueling 10-game stretch, with seven against the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays sandwiched around three in Toronto. By the start of May we might know whether this Sox team is cooked.
“It’s definitely a challenge, but we’ve got to play baseball,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “It doesn’t matter who we are playing against.”
The Cubs, meanwhile, return to Wrigley Field on Thursday to begin a seven-game homestand against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, two teams that spent madly the last two seasons but have as much to show for it as the Cubs, the creators of so-called “intelligent spending.”
David Ross’ team began Wednesday ranked third in the majors with a .285 average and sixth with a .782 OPS. Then they knocked out 11 hits in the romp over the hapless A’s.
Cody Bellinger’s comeback appears to be in full swing, and the top four hitters in the lineup — Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki — are all under contract for at least the next four seasons.
“I feel really great about (the deals) right now,” Cubs President Jed Hoyer said last week after extending Hoerner and Happ to start the season. “I don’t know exactly how Rossy is going to make out the lineup card, but you can see how that situation (can turn out). The top four guys in the lineup are all guys that are of prime age, all signed through 2026. I’m really thrilled to have that stability.”
The pitching has been just as dominant with a 3.19 ERA, second in the National League behind the Milwaukee Brewers. Justin Steele (3-0) and the bullpen combined to allow one earned run on five hits Wednesday.
It was an impressive road trip, even with Pat Hughes sitting out the last two games in Oakland to rest his voice, which was scratchy Monday during his discussion with partner Ron Coomer about the possum haunting the stadium’s broadcast booth.
It’s a long season, and the Cubs’ Hall of Fame voice might have to experience some load management if the team continues to play like this, ensuring his vocal chords remain strong for an October run.
While Hughes rested, Sutcliffe’s incessant boosterism of Ross and every Cubs player during the TV broadcasts was something to hear. Or not, if you prefer a broadcast with a little less cheerleading and a little more analysis of Ross’ decision-making.
Suffice to say if the Cubs live up to Sutcliffe’s unctuous commentary, the World Series should be a cakewalk for Ross and the players and Sutcliffe can then take a bow.
April is the perfect time to dream big.
