It’s going to be a long winter for Chicago sports fans.
Not only are the low temperatures for next week expected to reach the mid-teens, but the city’s sports landscape is looking unfathomably bad relative to its position just a few months ago.
The Bears entered the season with Super Bowl aspirations, and both the Blackhawks and Bulls were poised to surprise many with their respective young talent and improved depth. If you ran 100 simulations of the last couple months of Chicago sports, our real life outcome would probably be in the top-five of worst case scenarios. Alas, this is where things stand. Almost every player other than Allen Robinson and Pat O’Donnell has regressed for the Bears, with the most notable regression coming from quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and play caller Matt Nagy. The Blackhawks’ defense is still a work in progress, and they struggle to even register shots on goal. The Bulls run hot and cold, then absolutely crater towards the end of games, thanks in part to mind-numbing, borderline insulting coaching decisions and logic from Jim Boylen. Chances are that none of these three teams will make the playoffs this season.
While the Cubs still have a playoff-caliber roster, they are at a point where their roster is becoming both older and more expensive; as a result, the chances of meaningful additions are becoming slimmer. The only Chicago sports team on the upswing may in fact be the White Sox.
Are the White Sox the next Chicago team to win a championship?
— Kevin Powell (@kpowell720) November 3, 2019
White Sox,
— The Great Chicago Rebuild (@_TheGCR) November 6, 2019
You have a chance to capture the entire city with this offseason. Do not miss out on this chance just to save dollars. Spend. The. Money.
Sincerely,
A friend
This already important offseason has become even more crucial to people like me who only care about the White Sox, Bears, Blackhawks, and/or Bulls when it comes to sports. It was already clear that this is the time for the White Sox to surround the team’s young core with veteran talent, but it was not as apparent that doing so might actually achieve more than just helping the team win games.
Capitalizing on the current dysfunction in Chicago could make the White Sox a more desirable and popular team within the city. Fans are understandably desperate for a winning team, and the White Sox are in a great spot to become that team. Premier talent such as Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, and Anthony Rendon is not even necessary for such a dream to come to fruition. As I have discussed at length, there are plenty of scenarios through which the White Sox can assemble a playoff-caliber team in the coming months. The new problem is that failing to do so leaves Chicago sports fans such as myself in store for a very disappointing few years.
Surely, the White Sox front office understands what is at stake for the team this offseason. With the rest of the city’s teams in complete disarray, however, there is even more at stake for Chicago sports fans than previously imagined. For our collective sanity, it’s time for the money to be spent.
