CHICAGO — The City Series. The 1906 World Series. The “Hitless Wonders.” Air Jordan at Wrigley. A.J. Pierzynski vs. Michael Barrett. The 2005 White Sox. The 2016 Cubs. Christopher Morel’s walk-off blast.
However you want to remember it, the annual North Side vs. South Side showdown is underway.
The first edition of the 2024 Crosstown Classic began this week, with the Cubs hosting the White Sox for a two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday nights at Wrigley Field.
Tuesday’s game was a thriller, as the Cubs rallied to win following a 42-minute rain delay, extending the losing streak for the White Sox to 12 games.
As the MLB calendar flipped into the first week of June, both teams were struggling.
That’s been a season-long theme for the South Siders, of course, who weren’t expected to do a whole lot of winning this season as the franchise undergoes some significant rebuilding.
But it’s been even worse than probably anyone expected.
The White Sox entered the first edition of this season’s Crosstown Classic with an MLB-worst 15-45 record. They had lost 11 straight games, last tasting victory on May 21, and their run differential of minus-138 was 49 runs worse than the second-worst team in that telling stat.
In a season where most had the White Sox out of playoff contention before Opening Day, at least winning some games against the Cubs would help cheer up White Sox fans a little.
The Cubs, meanwhile, were in desperate need of their own good vibes.
After the North Siders missed out on a National League playoff berth by just one game last season, they went out and hired manager Craig Counsell away from the NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers during the offseason and entered 2024 with playoff expectations.
Things started well, but they went south at the start of May.
The Cubs entered the 2024 Crosstown Classic just 11-19 since May 1, with six consecutive series losses, and had fallen to two games under .500 at 29-31. They were tied for second place in the NL Central with the St. Louis Cardinals, seven games behind the first-place Brewers.
So, as you can see, the baseball vibes weren’t great around Chicago entering this year’s Crosstown Classic.
That said, the Crosstown Classic always brings the passion from both fanbases. No matter the records or recent struggles, it’ll feel like the World Series this week at Wrigley Field.
Here’s what you need to know for the 2024 Crosstown Classic:
The games
GAME 1: Cubs 7, White Sox 6 (June 4, Wrigley Field), MLB.com box score
GAME 2: Wednesday, June 5, Wrigley Field, 7:05 p.m.
GAME 3: Friday, Aug. 9, Guaranteed Rate Field, 7:10 p.m.
GAME 4: Saturday, Aug. 10, Guaranteed Rate Field, 6:15 p.m.
NEXT UP: Chicago White Sox (15-46, 5th in AL Central) at Chicago Cubs (30-31, 2nd in NL Central)
- Where: Wrigley Field
- When: Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
- Erick Fedde, White Sox (4-1, 3.12 ERA) vs. Jameson Taillon, Cubs (3-2, 2.84 ERA). … Fedde, the veteran right-hander, has resurrected his MLB career after pitching in South Korea last season. He’s been one of the few bright spots for the White Sox in 2024, pitching five or more innings in all but one of his 11 starts. … Taillon, the eighth-year right-hander and former No. 2 overall draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates, has been rock-solid since coming off an IL stint. He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his eight starts this season.
The broadcasts
- Cubs: Marquee Sports Network (TV); 670 The Score, WRTO 1200 (radio).
- White Sox: NBC Sports Chicago (TV); WMVP 1000 AM (radio).
The traffic
There’s sure to be plenty of traffic, both vehicle and pedestrian, in and around Wrigleyville and Armour Square for both Crosstown Classic series, so plan accordingly.
Visit the Cubs website HERE for full Wrigley Field parking information.
Visit the White Sox website HERE for full Guaranteed Rate Field parking information.
The weather
According to the WGN Weather Team, after rain clears the area, Wednesday afternoon will be sunny and pleasant, with high temperatures in the upper 70s.
However, more rain is projected to move through Chicagoland again Wednesday night, though it may not reach the city under very late, after the game is over.
Click HERE for a full forecast from Wednesday’s WGN Morning News.
The history
In regular-season games that count, the White Sox hold a 74-69 edge over the Cubs, including their most recent matchup on Tuesday.
But there’s more to the story than that.
The Cubs and White Sox are two of MLB’s most historic franchises, but their respective paths have often been divergent over the years, despite playing in the same city.
Since the teams are in separate leagues, they didn’t begin playing each other in regular-season competition until 1997, when MLB implemented interleague play.
They’ve played each other regularly since. Prior to that, the North and South Siders squared off many times in exhibition games only, but also once in the World Series, in what remains to this day the rivals’ most significant matchup.
Here’s a look at some of the rivalry’s more memorable dates:
1906
In their one and only World Series meeting, the White Sox defeated the Cubs in six games to win the title.
That White Sox team was famously known as the “Hitless Wonders,” because they were offensively challenged. But the bats came alive just in time. With the series tied at 2-2, the White Sox scored eight runs each in Games 5 and 6 to finish off the Cubs.
This series happened so long ago that it predated both Wrigley Field and the old Comiskey Park. Games 1, 3 and 5 were played at West Side Grounds, then home of the Cubs, located on Chicago’s West Side at the corner of South Wolcott Avenue and West Polk Street. Games 2, 4 and 6 were played at South Side Park III, then home of the White Sox, located on the north side of 39th Street (later renamed Pershing Road) between South Wentworth and South Princeton avenues.
1903-42
In most years for nearly four decades, the Cubs and White Sox squared off in a City Series, held concurrently with the World Series. For an interesting read on the old City Series, check out these pieces by southsidesox.com and the Society for American Baseball Research.
According to the latter, the White Sox won the series 19 times to six for the Cubs. In 161 total City Series games between 1903-42, according to SABR, the White Sox won 95 times and the Cubs 62, with four ties.
1981
After the season was interrupted by a players strike, the Cubs and White Sox marked the return of baseball on Aug. 7, playing an exhibition game at Comiskey Park that day and another exhibition game at Wrigley Field the day after.
It was called the Mayor Byrne’s Charity Series.
The first game ended in a 0-0 tie, and the White Sox didn’t score a run at all through the first 14 innings of the two games, notes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.
1994
This was the one time, as Sullivan notes, that Michael Jordan was booed in Chicago.
It came during Jordan’s first retirement from the Bulls, when he was giving baseball a go in the White Sox organization. Jordan was on his way to Double-A Birmingham, but first he played with the White Sox in an early April exhibition game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
So, being on the South Side team and playing on the North Side, Jordan was booed in Chicago.
He actually had a solid game, finishing with a single, a double and two RBI, along with an error, in a 4-4 tie.
Jordan would never play on an MLB field for a game that counted. But it’s safe to say he returned to the place where he was best, going back to the NBA and leading the Bulls to three more NBA titles, which both Cubs and White Sox fans could cheer for.
1997
On June 16 at Comiskey Park (the new version), Chicago’s two MLB teams met for the first time in a game that counted since the 1906 World Series.
The Cubs won the teams’ first-ever interleague meeting, 8-3, with Brant Brown’s triple to score Brian McRae in the top of the first inning marking the first run in the rivals’ new chapter of history.
The White Sox, however, claimed the three-game series, winning 5-3 and 3-0 in the next two games.
According to the Tribune, WGN’s broadcast of Game 1, which had White Sox announcers Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Tom Paciorek on the call, was up 136% above the station’s season average for White Sox broadcasts. Game 2, called by Cubs announcers Harry Caray and Steve Stone, was up 74% on WGN’s season average for Cubs broadcasts, according to the Tribune.
2006
A.J. Pierzynski. Michael Barrett.
Nothing more needs to be said.
But in case anyone needs reminding, it was a Saturday afternoon, May 20, when the teams met at U.S. Cellular Field for the second game of a three-game set. The White Sox were coming off their World Series title in 2005, plus a 6-1 victory in Game 1 of the series, so the rivalry had gotten especially overheated.
Pierzynski — who else? — provided the spark that ignited an inferno, sliding into home and emphatically touching the plate during the second inning of an eventual 7-0 White Sox victory.
Barrett, the Cubs’ catcher on the play, took exception to Pierzynski’s antics, punching him after the play and starting an all-out brawl.
Later that inning, White Sox infielder Tadahito Iguchi cranked a grand slam.
Indeed, those were better times for the South Siders.
2016
This season, it was the Cubs’ turn to end their World Series drought.
The Crosstown Classic that summer was played out over four consecutive games in late July, the first two at U.S. Cellular Field — the last season before its most recent name change — and the last two at Wrigley Field.
The White Sox won their two games at home, but the Cubs rebounded for victories in their two home games. That included a grand slam into the left-center bleachers at Wrigley in the bottom of the eighth by Cubs shortstop Addison Russell in the third game of the series.
2023
In the most recent edition of the Crosstown Classic, the Cubs won both games at Guaranteed Rate Field, 7-3 and 10-7, in late July, then the teams split their two games at Wrigley Field in mid-August.
After the White Sox won the first game at Wrigley, 5-3, they led the second game, 3-1, going into the bottom of the ninth.
But Cody Bellinger doubled to lead off the ninth for the Cubs, Dansby Swanson walked, then Christopher Morel belted a 1-2 pitch from Gregory Santos into the bleachers in right-center, giving the Cubs a 4-3 walk-off victory and sending Wrigley into a total frenzy.
Tuesday night, for the first time since Morel’s blast, the Cubs and White Sox meet again.
Next meeting
The White Sox host their half of the 2024 Crosstown Classic on Aug. 9-10 at Guaranteed Rate Field, a Friday and Saturday night.