Tim Anderson and Javy Baez Graced The Latest Cover Of Sports Illustrated
This was one of the covers of the latest SI. The other two were Mookie Betts and Shohei Otani of the LA area and Gleyber Torres and Pete Alonso of New York:
That's some awesome company to be in. I'm 31 years old; the Cubs and Sox have been to the playoffs ONE TIME since I've been alive and that was in 2008. The Cubs got swept by LA and the Sox lost in 4 to Tampa Bay, IIRC. Both teams got the absolute shit kicked out of them. That's it, and it's sad.
Everyone knows I hate the Cubs more than any team on earth and I wouldn't root for them under just about any circumstance. But I don't want a Red Line World Series, I need it. I need it like I need air to breath, and for the first time in 200+ combined years of baseball between the two teams, there's at least a *glimmer* of a chance they could meet in the pinnacle of the sport sometime this decade.
Now I couldn't love the White Sox more right now. Yes, I fully admit that this is still a transition year and that 90 wins would be a very successful season. I'm not calling World Series by any means. But come 2021 and beyond I fully expend them to win the division every year for the foreseeable future. Once you get to the playoffs, it's anyone's game. That is not a joke or me taking crazy pills.
It's an expectation.
Now the Cubs on the other hand are in a bit of a precarious position; they have almost their entire core reaching free agency in 2 seasons:
I crunched some numbers and between those 7 players the Cubs would be looking at roughly $650MM+ in extensions. Sure, they have a ton of money coming off the books as well, but they're not going to extend/re-sign all of those guys. It's impossible, even with a gradually increasing luxury tax. Pair the loss of an X amount of their core guys with a very mediocre farm system and…. yikes. Not a great long term outlook for them.
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So this is my plead to them: PLEASE figure out a way to stay competitive in 2021 and beyond. I have had decent sports life, all things considered. Have seen the Hawks, Bulls and Sox win championships, with NU going to the B1G 'ship and the Bears going to a Super Bowl. Could be way worse. Could be Cleveland or something.
But I'm getting greedy. Give me multiple years of both teams being contenders for their league's pennant. If in the absurdly small chance the two do actually meet in a World Series, it'll be Chicago Fire Round II. Either one of me or Carl would be dead via manslaughter. Fucking give that to us, Chicago deserves it.
Give us a goddamn Red Line World Series.