Chicago Sports Exchange: Bears Flirt With Relocation Tops Week of Uncertainty
Cubs, Sox struggle with new competition while Sky return to form
With the speculation that’s suddenly blanketed much of Chicago’s sports landscape of late, this week’s CSE proceedings might as well come with a question mark the size of an on-the-market horse-racing track.
Are the White Sox building a formula that will ultimately crumble when its survival matters most?
Can the Cubs reel in enough offense to stay afloat atop the National League Central as a cruel June docket draws to a close?
Will the ping-pong balls bounce the Bulls’ way like they did this time last year or, better yet, in 2008 when their 1.7 percent chance of securing that draft’s top pick turned into Derrick Rose?
And…the Arlington Heights Bears?
SELL — Move To Arlington Heights Would Be A Win For The McCaskeys, Loss For Chicago
Apologies to our northwest suburban neighbors, but “Monsters of the Village of Arlington Heights” just doesn’t hit the same. Neither would the Bears calling anywhere apart from their present picturesque surroundings home.
That being said, it makes sense for the McCaskeys to be interested in the Arlington International Racecourse property. It represents a plot of land they could finally call their own, more than a four-thousand percent increase in space for activities and a wealth of opportunities that Soldier Field could never scrape together.
But just the idea of the Bears playing outside of Chicago—and thereby joining the likes of the Rams, Chargers, Giants, Jets, 49ers, Raiders, Cowboys, Dolphins, Bills, and the Washington Football Team as franchises whose stadiums aren’t actually located in their namesakes—is a shot through the heart of nostalgia.
Submitting a bid to purchase the 326-acres could be their honest step toward relocation. Or, as mayor Lori Lightfoot scoffed, just “noise and a negotiating tactic."
For the sake of cranky fuddy-duddies, let’s hope it’s the latter.
HOLD — Sox Earn Mixed Returns Against Higher-Level Competition
Even in the midst of their season’s longest losing streak, the White Sox are still in charge of a two-and-a-half-game lead in the American League Central.
So it’d be absurd to be up in arms about a four-game clobbering at the hands of the Houston Astros. Especially in June. But, that the Sox (43-29) haven’t exactly looked up to snuff against the rest of the AL’s upper class deserves at least a raise of an eyebrow.
In 25 games against the Red Sox, Rays, Yankees, Indians, and Astros—teams they’ll most likely see in October—the Sox are just 9–16. And although they’re currently owners of the fourth-best run differential in Major League Baseball, they’ve been outscored 88-115 in those ballgames.
White Sox’ front office ‘will do all they can’ before trade deadline, Tony La Russa says (Sun-Times)
Again, it’s only June.
Summer isn’t even officially a week old.
The Sox haven’t been at full strength for a single inning this year, nor will they be after Nick Madrigal underwent season-ending surgery to repair his torn right hamstring last week. And yet they’ve pieced together the fifth-best record in baseball.
They’ve adjusted on-the-fly to the three gigantic monkey wrenches that were thrown into their plan. The starting pitching rotation that’s supported the weight of a volatile bullpen and an erratic defense has looked mostly ironclad, drawing comparisons to the revered staff that led the franchise to its third World Series title in 2005.
But any chance at a fourth lies on the other side of the competition that’s, more often than not, gotten the better of them.
HOLD — Savage Schedule, Short-Circuiting Offense Taking Cubs To Task
So, about that sticky stuff…
For all the noise about Major League Baseball’s crackdown on grip enhancers, maybe the faithfully-forsaken rule finally being put into effect today is actually a good thing.
For the Cubs, at least.
Any team that blows a fuse bad enough to cause it to rank last or among the worst in on-base plus slugging, hits, batting average, and on-base percentage over the last two weeks could use a break at the plate.
That’s not to say Cleveland’s Aaron Civale (10-2, 3.48 ERA) or any one from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching rotation—a group that boasts the third-best earned run average in baseball—will be shells of themselves as a result of the increased scrutiny on foreign substances.
But, who knows?
Before a run-scoring passed ball in the third inning of a series-salvaging 2-0 win against Miami Sunday, it had been exactly one week since a Cub crossed home plate without the use of the long ball. Home runs are cool. That only four teams have hit more than the Cubs (40-32) all season is cooler. But they’ve often been—as in 71% of the last 21—solo shots.
The offense that’s recorded four or fewer hits nine times this month needs a jump. Contact-hitting spark plugs Nico Hoerner (hamstring) and Matt Duffy (back) won’t be back before this wretched month is over.
The Cubs can use any helping hand they can get until then. Even if it just so happens to be an opposing pitcher’s sketchy grasp of the baseball.
BUY — Winning Streak Puts Sky Back On Track
And voilá! Just like that, the hole the Sky had dug themselves into has become but a mere divot.
After losing Candace Parker and Allie Quigley to injury and Stefanie Dolson to her Olympic endeavors (and taking two week’s worth of losses on the chin), the Sky (7-7) appear to be rounding into the form of the championship contender most thought them to be before the season began.
It’s tempting to pin the team’s turnaround exclusively on Parker’s return from a left ankle injury that forced her to the sideline after just one game. The Sky have, after all, strung together five consecutive victories since she’s been back in the fold and undefeated with her in the lineup.
But Parker, who’s led the team in scoring once during this resurgence, hasn’t been the eye of the storm that’s washed over Indiana, Minnesota and Connecticut. She’s simply been part of the downpour that’s amounted to the second-most points per game (90.4) on 47.3% shooting from the field and 38% from three. Those marks are good for third- and fifth-best in the league respectively.
After knocking off the Fever, Lynx and Sun, whom they play again Saturday, the Sky are now just 1.5 games from the top of the Eastern Conference.
Considering how far they’ve already climbed, that foothold seems close in hand.
BUY — Red Stars Still Not In Full Swing, But Building Momentum
A season-opening shellacking aside, the Red Stars haven’t looked half bad.
They’ve secured 8 out of a possible 15 points since the Challenge Cup champion and pace-setting Portland Thorns tagged them with five-goal shutout two months ago. They’ve also played two of the other three teams ahead of them in the standings—Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit—to draw.
The Red Stars (2-2-2) won’t face the Orlando Pride, who just pulled even with the Thorns atop the NWSL standings on points, until August 8.
A lot can happen in a month and a half. Including the Red Stars doing more to prove first impressions are overrated.
BUY — Fire’s Logo Release Bright Spot In Otherwise Dim Season
Joe Mansueto didn’t just listen to fans.
He heard them.
And on Friday—after 225,000 words worth of written submissions, 10,000 social media responses and 500 hours of round-table discussions, all over the course of the past six months—the Fire owner and chairman unveiled the new logo his club will sport next year.
“We made a commitment in January to welcome anyone who wanted to lend their voice to this project and the result is a crest that was fully and completely inspired by what we heard from our fans and supporters,” Mansueto said in a statement on the team’s website.
The new design—with its Florian cross and red “C”—revives elements of the team’s original emblem that was scrapped in favor of the much-lampooned “Fire Crown” two years ago.
For a Fire squad that’s collected just four out of a possible 24 points so far this season, a win is a win. Even one that comes away from the field.
Drew Stevens is a Senior Writer for WARR Media, he lives and works in Chicago