Who do you love? Cubs or Sox? Which team has the best chance at winning it all next? Let’s take a look at both teams’ recent history & current state. Let’s figure out if there is a chance that one of these teams will win it all some day soon…
We start with the Sox. World Series champs in 2005, the Sox have given their fans the ultimate glory as recent as 9 years ago. A closer look at the world series year reveals the same regular season record that the Sox had in 1983, the “winning ugly” year. I remember the game the Sox clinched, and Julio Cruz raced home on a sac fly vs Seattle. I was 7 years old, and I was cheering. The winning percentage in both of those years was .611. The last time the Sox had a better winning percentage??? 1920, but we’re sticking to recent history here. So how about since that World Series year of 2005? The Sox have fluctuated between .556, the year after the World Series, to .389 last year. They had a total of 4 playoff games, a 1-3 record in that span. What does that tell us?
A look at the current Sox team reveals a team that will probably be in that winning percentage range. You don’t have a great team, but you do have a team that looks like it will compete, and finish right around .500… better than experts predicted. Two big reasons are Chris Sale and Jose Abreu; I’d hate to think of the Sox without them. Bottom line here is more of the same. The Sox are OK, mediocre, will finish with a decent record, and probably be watching the playoffs from their couches. Nothing new here in Chicago, from either side of town. How do we change that?
What is the Sox plan for the future? Build around Sale and Abreu; not a bad place to start. You have some other pieces that are currently on the roster, like Eaton, Quintana, and… Sox fans help me. There are some other good players like Alexei, Beckham, Danks that may or may not be part of the future. You have a couple guys in the minors who should be part of this thing, like Rodon and… Hawkins maybe. Matt Davidson? OK, the farm system is not as stacked as the other side of town, but the Sox are fielding a better team right now. One that resembles a major league team. What is that going to get you?
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This year will finish in that range too…. towards the lower end. The good news is that Rizzo and Castro needed to be the guys, and they have been, both making the all star game. Where do you go from there? Arrieta may be here for the long haul, and it’s nice to see a prospect in Alcantara sticking (so far) at the major league level. Who else on this current roster is worth anything? You have to go to the minor league system, which has been more publicized more than the major league team lately, to find hope. You know the guys, Bryant, Baez, Russell, Soler, Almora, Edwards, McKinney. OK, so per multiple baseball reports, the Cubs are stacked down there. I remember other top Cubs prospects too… Felix Pie, Corey Patterson, Josh Vitters, Brett Jackson… just to name a few. How’d that work out? The bottom line is that there are no guarantees on a prospect. But, the more bullets that you fire means you’re bound to hit the target a couple times right???
That is really the question the Cubs need the right answer to if they have any chance of winning soon. In year 3 of the Cubs plan, we roll to the end of rebuilding (?). The major league team has suffered, while the minor league system has been developed at light speed. The future should be bright; one that per Theo, will get this team to contend year in year out. A team that will regularly make the playoffs, and again that theory comes into play… the more times you get there, you’re bound to win it all one year. How you feeling about that plan?
It’s mediocre central for Chicago baseball. I hate losing.. any game. To see the Cubs lose repeatedly is painful to watch. In that aspect, the Sox are actually winning some games, and have to be providing some joy for their fans. They have a respectable major league team, which is, um… respectable. What is the main goal of any fan base? To win the ultimate prize… an achievement that makes all the losing worth it. So no matter how many mediocre, losing squads you march out there, if that march is leading towards the ultimate goal, it’s all worth it. Well, as a Cub fan, I sure hope so. We definitely have enough losing to speak about with nothing to show for it. Maybe you scrap all that talk and just have everything come together for one magical year like the Sox had in 2005. Wouldn’t that be enough? Either way you look at it, whichever route you prefer, getting to the playoffs and winning it all has to be the end game for both franchises. Which team has the best chance at winning it all next?
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