Aside from a brief “ha ha the guy we traded you just gave up a home run to a guy we forgot we had on payroll and now the game’s tied” on Friday, the White Sox tore apart the Cubs this weekend. Just ripped ‘em to shreds. U.S.-invading-Grenada.
There were no surprises this weekend. The biggest was the Friday home run, and the Cubs ended up losing that one. There were no surprises, and so at least from my vantage point, there was little conflict relative to some other years. What were White Sox fans to say? That the Cubs are bad? The Cubs are very bad right now. Insults are rarely so factual.
This does, though, bring the topic of Cubs’ rivalries to mind. And while I’m not going to get obnoxious and rank them (I don’t think my view is representative of that of the Cubs or that of Cubs fandom at large), I think it’s worth checking the temperatures:
Cubs/White Sox Temperature: Cold
It’s a bummer that the Sox won in ’05, partially because it made Ozzie Guillen not a joke, and partially because now Cubs fans can’t just play big brother and say, “that’s nice,” to the Sox being good this year. Also, the Sox are set up well for the next few years. Which is to say, the temperature could rise, but it’s unlikely to become a good situation in the Cubs’ favor, so it’s probably best kept cold.
Cubs/Cardinals Temperature: Cool
This one isn’t cold, but there isn’t a lot going on here. Both teams stink. One’s in denial, but is also the better of the two. There also hasn’t been much direct contention-for-success confrontation over the last seven years—there was some good stuff in ’15 and some bad stuff (for the Cubs) in ’19 and exciting stuff scattered throughout the other years, like the Rizzo home run this May, but it’s a cool war. Each franchise has internal demons that are a more pressing concern.
Cubs/Brewers Temperature: Lukewarm
The warmest on this list, the Brewers are something of a target because 1) there was a sizable Willson Contreras’s-head-centered spat this spring, 2) the teams have been on one another since 2018 when the Brewers unseated the Cubs as NL Central champions-by-default, 3) there are sign-stealing accusations involved, and 4) Christian Yelich was a real loser about those accusations when Yu Darvish tweeted about them. I don’t know about others who like the Cubs, but the Brewers get me riled up.
Cubs/Reds Temperature: Cool
What conflict there was this year was mostly limited to Javy Báez and Amir Garrett, and one of those guys plays in the NL East now. Also, there were few games between the two that felt all that meaningful at the time, given the perpendicular trajectories both early in the season and now late in the season, and Cubs fans love Nick Castellanos. Love him. You would think Nick Castellanos had once played in a playoff game for the Chicago Cubs. At a minimum.
Cubs/Pirates Temperature: Frigid
Not quite frozen, but close. No competitiveness from the Pirates all that recently. Clint Hurdle’s gone. Joe Maddon’s gone. Nothing to see here.
Cubs/Mets Temperature: Frozen
There’s an argument that the 2015 NLCS reawakened some of the old Ron Santo-era Cubs/Mets contest, but even if it did, that was a long time ago now.
Cubs/Dodgers Temperature: Frozen
Two straight NLCS duels and the Yu Darvish signing have both faded into obscurity, and with them, so has this.
***
No others I can think of from the last decade that feel particularly meaningful. Nothing with the non-Central NL teams aside from the Dodgers (because of those two years coming back-to-back) and the Mets (because of the history). Nothing with the AL teams outside of the Sox because Cleveland was a good sport about the World Series. Absolute zero on all those other ones. Maybe the Cubs can do something shady down the stretch and steal a prospect from the Nationals in the draft or something. Or do a little free agency tampering. That would be fun. Front office feud. Guys throwing spreadsheets at each other at the winter meetings. Mike Rizzo yelling at Jed Hoyer, whose head we now know is penetrable. Give us one of those, guys.
