Twistity Sports Exclusive: SECOND CITY

 
Chicago has long been known as the Second City, except in baseball. There it is the Second-Rate City.

The Chicago Cubs last won the National League pennant in 1945, and captured their only World Series in 1908. The Chicago White Sox, less popular in town and nationally, have been marginally better. They won the American League pennant in 2005 and the World Series as well, but haven’t much else to show for their many other years of malfeasance.

Now the two teams are in an arms race … literally. As baseball’s winter meetings change the face of the game, the Cubs and White Sox are picking up pitchers. Hey, they saw what the San Francisco Giants did with great pitching to win the World Series and they’re copying it.

The Cubs are parting with $155 million over six years for the services of Jon Lester, who also had his old club, the Boston Red Sox, chasing him. The White Sox are acquiring Jeff Samardzija (a former Cub) in a trade with the Oakland A’s, and signed former New York Yankees closer David Robertston.

There wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the Cubs and White Sox in 2014. They both finished at 73-89; the White Sox were 40-41 at home, the Cubs 41-40.

With Joe Maddon as their new manager and Lester coming off a season in which he posted a 16-11 mark and a career-best 2.46 ERA, the Cubs suddenly have new hope in a division long dominated by the St. Louis Cardinals. The White Sox now may be able to compete better with the pitching-heavy Detroit Tigers, though that roster may be thinned by the pending loss of Max Scherzer.

Second City? Maybe second to none.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .