{"id":32555,"date":"2025-05-17T00:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T00:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/32555\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T00:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T00:14:10","slug":"summerlike-day-brings-a-cubs-rout-over-white-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/32555\/","title":{"rendered":"Summerlike day brings a Cubs rout over White Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"

White Sox general manager Chris Getz confirmed he didn\u2019t carpool with Cubs President Jed Hoyer to Wrigley Field on Friday for the opening game of the City Series.<\/p>\n

Getz probably didn\u2019t want to listen to Hoyer talk about the Cubs\u2019 problems, knowing he has his own things to worry about. And Hoyer likely preferred his favorite podcast to Getz\u2019s favorite classic rock station.<\/p>\n

So instead of getting stuck in traffic together on the Edens Spur, the two teams\u2019 top executives<\/a> went their separate ways, which was just as well in the long run.<\/p>\n

The Cubs wound up trouncing the Sox 13-3 before 40,171, winning their sixth straight in the City Series dating to 2023 and pulling within one in the all-time series, which the Sox lead 74-73.<\/p>\n

It would\u2019ve made for a long trip back to the North Shore for Getz.<\/p>\n

Cubs-Sox games always have been eventful, though this was one of those days when Sox fans could only laugh at their team beating itself, hoping Saturday would be a better day.<\/p>\n

It was a beautiful spring day with summerlike weather, a southwesterly wind blowing out at 21 mph and two teams on opposite ends of the baseball spectrum. The first-place Cubs need to sweep the worst team in the American League this weekend to show their dominance. The Sox, meanwhile, hope to rope-a-pope their rivals, using their connections with Pope Leo XIV<\/a> to try to pull off a series win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to ruin his weekend,\u201d Getz said of Hoyer, his close friend and rebuild whisperer.<\/p>\n

Instead, Friday\u2019s opener might have ruined Getz\u2019s lunch. Staked to a 2-0 lead, the Sox gave up five unearned runs in the Cubs\u2019 six-run second inning, highlighted by back-to-back scoring plays<\/a> on fielder\u2019s-choice grounders that should\u2019ve been outs and a go-ahead three-run home run by Pete Crow-Armstrong, his 12th homer of the season.<\/p>\n

Game 1 photos: Cubs take City Series opener at Wrigley Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The emotions of Crow-Armstrong, who went 4-for-5 with six RBIs, spilled out into the stands, where Cubs fans soaked in the sun and celebrated their budding star and entertainer-in-chief<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to say it\u2019s passion rather than emotion,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said, correcting a reporter. \u201cI think passion is when you see the real joy. I kind of think emotion goes both ways. It\u2019s sometimes what takes me and everybody out of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the way we started today feels great. It\u2019s nice seeing the crosstown fans leave early.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Crow-Armstrong is the first Cub with at least 12 home runs, 30 RBIs and 10 stolen baseas in their first 45 games. His first homer came on April 12, making his power surge all the more impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to see a player take another step,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019s taken a a step up defensively and taken a big step up offensively. It\u2019s an impact player. The ability for the home run now, it\u2019s a pretty big surprise, but you need surprises.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s behind it?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really sure. He\u2019s in a much better position to hit this year,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI\u2019m sure that\u2019s leading some of it. The ball is exploding off his bat. That\u2019s pretty impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing went the Sox\u2019s way, from the failure to execute plays at the plate to allowing pop-ups by Crow-Armstrong and Carson Kelly to drop for hits after fielders battled the wind. The Sox also wasted a two-homer, 4-for-4 afternoon by Miguel Vargas.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrates after a victory over the White Sox on May 16, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

It was an important win for the Cubs, who improved to 26-19 and 3-1 on the homestand. They\u2019ve been offensively challenged of late after their red-hot opening month left many thinking it was a foolproof lineup from top to bottom.<\/p>\n

But after hitting .263 in March\/April with a .792 OPS, they came into Friday hitting only .215 with a .688 OPS in May. Last year the Cubs started the same way, only to go into a prolonged slump that lasted from late April into early July.<\/p>\n

Will history repeat itself?<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t seem likely after watching the Cubs rap out 15 hits, including Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros\u2019 first major-league hit in the eighth. Kyle Tucker had a pair of hits to emerge from his recent slump. After hitting .320 with seven home runs and 15 RBIs on April 22, Tucker entered Friday batting .183 with three homers and eight RBIs in his previous 19 games.<\/p>\n

Tucker is the most important hitter in the lineup, and with the speedy Crow-Armstrong hitting ahead of him while Ian Happ mends, it should give him more RBI opportunities.<\/p>\n

The Sox fell to 14-31, the same record they had at this juncture in 2024 on their way to a record 121-loss season.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s crowd was relatively muted in comparison with the atmosphere of past Cubs-Sox games at Wrigley. The series received far less hype this week, thanks in part to the latest Caleb Williams soap opera: A new book claims Williams tried to avoid being drafted by the Bears, the team where \u201cquarterbacks go to die.\u201d Imagine that. It was almost as if Williams had some real knowledge of Bears history.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox fans dressed in pope outfits sing during the seventh-inning stretch as the Sox take on the Cubs on May 16, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

At Wrigley, few fans seemed to care much about the colorful Cubs-Sox history. Friday was all about welcoming in the summer vibes. The game was secondary to many Sox fans, including those who came dressed as the pope, ensuring some TV time. It didn\u2019t help the Sox, but they got a few laughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s been exciting obviously to have someone of that significance be a White Sox fan,\u201d Getz said. \u201cIt was fun and since he\u2019s been announced to become the pope, the White Sox have tacked on some wins. Perhaps a higher power is on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or maybe it was just a couple of series against the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds. Who can really say?<\/p>\n

By late Friday afternoon, it was time for a confession.<\/p>\n

The game itself isn\u2019t what really matters to Cubs and Sox fans. It\u2019s the shared blessing of living in a city with two baseball teams, where a warm, summer breeze in the middle of May brings the best out of everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"White Sox general manager Chris Getz confirmed he didn\u2019t carpool with Cubs President Jed Hoyer to Wrigley Field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,49,4245,4071,12075,576,161,884,4,35,6531,738],"class_list":{"0":"post-32555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicago-white-sox","12":"tag-chicagocubs","13":"tag-chris-getz","14":"tag-city-series","15":"tag-craig-counsell","16":"tag-cubs","17":"tag-jed-hoyer","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-pete-crow-armstrong","20":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","21":"tag-wrigley-field"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114520291066003288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}