Chicago White Sox: Splitting the Wrigley half of the Crosstown Classic

The Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs had a pretty even series as they each got a win and can feel good about how it went.

The Chicago White Sox had a pretty even series with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The series featured a bit of the best from the stars of both teams and showed exactly why this Crosstown Classic might only be scratching the surface of how entertaining it’s going to be in the coming years.

For the last few years, the Cubs were significantly better than the White Sox and before that, it was the other way around. Now it is clear that the White Sox are catching up while the Cubs really aren’t going anywhere. This next decade could be the best that they have both been at the same time in team history. The Sox need to get there and the Cubs need to stay there in order to be able to make that claim.

Game one was pretty much a movie script for the White Sox. The Cubs went up 1-0 on the first pitch they saw when Kyle Schwarber hit a massive home run. The White Sox eventually tied it up at one and had a 1-1 tie going into the ninth inning. Eloy Jimenez, who was traded to the White Sox by the Cubs for Eloy Quintana before he ever played an MLB game, obliterated a home run to left field to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead. That eventually served as the game-winner.

It was a sweet win for White Sox fans because they won because of an awesome drive by Eloy Jimenez. The Cubs gave him up as their number one prospect to their crosstown rivals and he made them pay. It was a miracle ending that White Sox fans will never forget. It was a glimpse into the future.

The second game wasn’t as kind. Leury Garcia hit a leadoff home run in this game to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead but half an inning later, Willson Contreras hit a grand slam to give the Cubs a 4-1 lead and they never looked back. They ended up winning the ballgame 7-3 and earned the series split.

Lucas Giolito made the start in the second game and he clearly had his worst start of the season. That isn’t saying much because he had been so dominant to that point and the loss drops him to 10-2. Not bad, Gio. He gave up three home runs and that was the story of the game. He will look to bounce back to his normal self in his next start and we have no reason to believe he won’t.

This series was big-time fun for both sides and half were mad on Tuesday and half were mad on Wednesday. As a White Sox fan, it was really refreshing to see the White Sox in the same league as the Cubs. They won one and even in the second one you never truly believed the game was over until it was. It is an awesome time to live in this baseball town we call Chicago.