While Chicago Cubs fans were in turmoil Friday night, White Sox fans performed the wave.
It was late in the Sox’s 9-5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, a game that was over in the first inning when starter Aaron Civale put the Sox in a quick 5-0 hole.
The wave, of course, is a 1980s cookie-cutter stadium tradition that mostly has been eradicated in baseball. But it’s making a comeback with Gen Z, and Sox Park was ripe for a release from the boredom of a poorly played game between a last-place Sox team and a pseudo-wild-card contender from Cleveland.
No matter your feelings on the wave, the vibe at the ballpark was convivial, a party interrupted by some bad baseball. No one goes to a Sox game expecting much, so fans have to create their own fun. That has been standard operating procedure since 2022, and until the Sox start winning again, it’s here to stay.
Former Sox announcer Harry Caray repeatedly bellowed “You can’t beat fun at the old ballpark,” which is code for “Come out and watch our bad team.” We had a different kind of fun in the 1970s, but ignoring the team’s play and enjoying a nice summer evening are what bind generations of South Siders.
While Sox fans deal with the losing in stride, Cubs fans are having a difficult time keeping their sanity during a recent downturn in the season. The Cubs beat the Cardinals 9-1 on Saturday but remained five games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers, who are doing a near-perfect imitation of the 1969 New York Mets, that fateful team that put daily pressure on the ’69 Cubs by never losing. (Google it, kids).
The Cubs still were tied for third-best record in the National League on Saturday but look more and more like a wild-card team. After spending nearly four months in first place and having a 6½-game lead in June 17, the hitting stopped stone cold since the All-Star break. Regression was expected, of course, but not from almost the entire lineup at the same time.
We know this team can hit because we’ve seen it. They were lauded for creating offense in adverse conditions in April and May, for providing power on normal days and using their speed when necessary. But the late-season collapse under David Ross in 2023 and the offensive funk under Craig Counsell in the first half of ’24 are still fresh in the minds of otherwise rational Cubs fans.
Speaking of which, David Kaplan, ESPN-1000 radio personality and original member of the Fraternal Order of Outraged Fans, (FOOF), declared on his YouTube channel that the Cubs were “pathetic” and “embarrassing” in Friday’s 5-0 loss in St. Louis. Kaplan added he has “NO HOPE” of the Cubs turning things around and also castigated general manager Carter Hawkins for doing whatever it is Carter Hawkins does, bypassing President Jed Hoyer in the blame game.
When you’ve lost Kaplan, you’ve lost all angry Cubs fans with podcasts, blogs, YouTube channels and verified X accounts, which is to say 90% of Cubs fans.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong walks off after striking out to end the seventh inning against the Reds on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
This is serious stuff.
So how can the Cubs rebound from this perceived nightmare?
Can they avoid going down in history alongside the 1977 Cubs, the Herman Franks-led team that had an 8½ game lead on June 29, spent 2½ months in first place and somehow melted down from 25 games over .500 to finish at 81-81?
It’s going to take a return to the collective offensive approach of the first four months, and perhaps some added urgency on the part of Counsell, whose solution thus far has been to play new utility man Willi Castro every day in a different position, giving his starters a rest. Castro was a nice pickup and already leads the team in the category of caps falling off head while running the bases. But he’s no Ben Zobrist.
Counsell seemingly is reluctant to give his stars anything more than a “mental” break. Could he eventually sit Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch, Pete-Crow Armstrong or Dansby Swanson for a stretch?
Suzuki entered Saturday hitting .177 since the break with a .290 slugging percentage. Swanson had the fourth-worst strikeout percentage since the break at 38.9%, while Crow-Armstrong ranked 10th (33.3%) and Busch 12th (32.9%). That’s a ton of noncontact from the Cubs’ best hitters, and we haven’t even mentioned Kyle Tucker’s prolonged slump.
Counsell is not the problem, but he’s paid a lot of money to fix the problems.
Someone asked the manager last week if his players picked up on him being “super focused,” which, unbeknownst to me, is Counsell’s apparent super power.
“That’s part of my job, and frankly that’s what you’re going to get if you’re going to be yourself,” he replied. “Do it as yourself. It’s good if they’re picking up on that. That’s what I’m going to offer.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy, left, shakes hands with Christian Yelich in the dugout before a game against the Mariners on July 23, 2025, in Seattle. (John Froschauer/AP)
While Counsell’s super focus is under video review, Brewers manager Pat Murphy is busy stuffing pancakes in his pockets and pulling them out for midgame snacks. They’ve pancaked opponents since the eccentricity was revealed.
This is the kind of genius that makes Cubs fans envious and why it’s going to be a long winter for Counsell and Hoyer if this team doesn’t pull out of its funk and makes a quick postseason exit.
Pocket pancakes, meanwhile, are now being offered at the concessions at American Family Field for Brewers fans not worried about having syrup in their clothes, which is to say 90% of Brewers fans. Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney would kill for a chance to charge Cubs fans $20, plus tax, for a pancake.
And at this point, nothing should be off the table for the Cubs as they try to shake off the malaise.
So here’s a modest proposal for Counsell — find a suitable filling for your empty pockets to get the Cubs back on track. What would it hurt?
The FOOFs thank you in advance.