Post World Series- what happens to the White Sox?

The Game Room
1

Obviously the White Sox have problems, and it doesn’t help the team when the Cubs are in the World Series. (They love it if the team was in the World Series of Poker, but that’s a different game). Chicago has a media bias when it comes to baseball (which I don’t think there’s much of it now with the New York Mets when comparing the market there, but I could be wrong), it’s either 75% Cubs/25% Sox, or 66%/33%. And if the Cubs are set to overwriting history (just like how ESPN forgot the 2005 series), it’s looking likely.

So there are two scenarios at play. The Cubs win the series and the White Sox will have $5 bleacher seats (if they’re that desperate), or the Cubs lose, but the media will still remember the '16 Cubs more than the '05 Sox. I’m not sure how the Sox maintain their business, but it would have an impact if the Cubs win the World Series.

What do you guys think?

2

I think that the same people who attend White Sox games now will attend next year no matter what happens with the Cubs. And all of the Sox fans who do not attend, won’t attend. This Sox fan says: Go Cubs!

3

If “Forbes” evaluation is right the White Sox are the 16th most valuable baseball franchise worth $1.05 billion and make some $20 million in profit. Far behind the Cubs but if you have team in a large city like Chicago and have access to some fans and a cable tv package, you can stay in business.

4

Other than while the White Sox were actually playing out the 2005 postseason, and then through to the parade, I don’t really recall the Cubs’ share of Chicago baseball media attention being as low as 75%.

5

Yeah…from the looks of the series, the Cubs are going to go down with the 2003 team as the team that could and crapped out. If the Cubs lose today (and if so, I have a long halloween tomorrow*), then the White Sox can side with the Bulls in the “you may have had a better record, but no title” category.

Ironically, it’s Cleveland again who is giving light to previous Chicago teams. In the NBA Finals, LeBron James gave Golden State a frozen boot out of rings in Game 7 and as a result, it makes comparisons with the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls team a little tricker, since the Bulls won a Championship (starting another three-peat). Of course, defeating the Cubs again today is going to be very disappointing- hopefully the crowd stays civil at the end.

*Two days ago I was at Wrigley Field looking at the craziness pre-game, I took a picture of myself and the marquee with a White Sox cap on to post to my mother to "Raise the “L”. I hope I didn’t curse the team.

6

I’m sure they will – they were very classy last year when they were eliminated.

7

But that was the NLCS, and swept too, just like in 2007/2008. Looking at the crowds at Wrigley…nah, it’ll be civil. Less so if they win.

8

Of your fellow Sox fans how many would you say are rooting for the Cubs, against them, or don’t care?

9

Of the Sox fans I personally know, I am an outlier.

10

My father has the same attitudes with ISIL, Donald Trump, and riding airplanes, he’s against them- and the Cubs, to the bitter end!

I too, hate the Cubs, and I hope that they lose game 6 or game 7.

11

Right. It’s not like the White Sox were just barely hanging on.

Besides, there is relatively unspoken difference of race (and maybe class) in the fanbases of the two teams. The White Sox will continue to be the team of Chicago-area African-Americans.

12

You also have the case of the Los Angeles Clippers staying around for three decades despite having (until recently) the worst owner in sports and the other team in town having multiple championships and stars. Location matters a lot. Nowadays owning a sports team is pretty close to have a license to print money.

13

Certainly class too. The White Sox are the working class team while Cubs fans are a bunch of yuppy twats that sip lattes in the stands and check the score on their iphones rather than watch the game.

Or that’s what my dad thinks anyway.

14

As a Royals fan who watched two White Sox fans run onto the field so they could attack our firstbase coach, I’ll disagree with that one.

15

Why? That seems to fit into the stereotype I laid out.

16

Well now that the parades are over (5 million people? Surely there’s some overcounting), what’s going to happen to attendance with the team? Plummet to the point where the stadium opens just one level instead of the typical 3 levels? $5 for bleachers?

Anyone?

17

I thought only one parade was scheduled.

18

That’s pretty much the attitude of Sox fans I’ve grown up with. (I grew up in Sox country a Cubs fan because I didn’t know any better.) It’s downright traitorous to even be seen by this cohort as supporting the Cubs. The wife of one of my friends posted a rather angry Facebook screed yesterday regarding their Sox friends who were all “Cubs suck” a month ago and now had been cheering the team on. It basically ended with “Go and party with your new favorite team, the Cubbies, because we don’t want you.” Perceptions of bandwagonism are not taken lightly here.

I admit, I wanted the Cubs to win because I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life, and also to shut these Sox fans up for a bit. When the Cubs were down three games to one, a friend posted a meme with the Sox celebrating the series and the line: “We don’t always get to the WS, but when we do, we win it.” Oh, how delicious it was when they won. So, I suppose I should be thanking the Sox friends of mine for making this victory even more sweet.

Me, as a Cubs fan? I just can’t reciprocate that kind of hate. Now, I’m not going to be cheering the White Sox too often, but I’m definitely not going to be cheering against them. I just don’t care unless they’re playing the Cubs.

19

No.

20

The Chicago White Sox are irrelevant. The owner of the team has the sweetest stadium deal in all of sports. He gives less than a whale turd about any fan base which may exist.