By Hannah Bartlebaugh, Staff Writer, and Orli Strickman, Senior Managing Editor
On Thursday, Sept. 24, both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox officially clinched spots in the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs. The No. 6 seed White Sox faced the Houston Astros in the American League Wild Card Series and the No. 5 seed Cubs faced the San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card Series.
The Cubs have made the postseason 23 times and won 17 pennants, and the White Sox have played in the postseason 12 times and won six pennants. The White Sox most recently won the World Series in 2005, while the Cubs won the Fall Classic in 2016, ending a 108-year drought. Despite their individual successes, the teams have simultaneously been in the playoffs only a total of three times before this year: in 1906, 2008 and 2020, when the MLB held a shortened season with an expanded playoff field.
For six days, Chicago-area residents hoped that the World Series might feature a matchup between the city’s two teams for the first time in 120 years. But while the White Sox swept their opponents in two games, winning their first postseason series since 2005, the Cubs were swiftly eliminated from the playoffs in game 2 against the Padres.
Though a native of Tennessee, sophomore international relations major Allison Henschel was rooting for the Cubs to go all the way. After they were eliminated, she pivoted to rooting for the White Sox, though she has no plans to follow the playoffs now that her team is out.
“I don’t know why they didn’t win, and I’m not really willing to watch it if they didn’t win,” she said. “I don’t want to make myself sad.”
Sophomore Lauren Guyer, a business analytics major from Tallahassee, Florida, has a more personal connection to the team. “I grew up knowing the Cubs’ old catcher, David Ross, and was friends with his daughter,” she said.
Guyer lost interest in the postseason once her team was eliminated. “I strongly dislike the Padres, but at the end of the day, who’s gonna win is gonna win.”
Senior Caleb Apinis, an interdisciplinary studies major, is rooting for a Yankees-Braves Series, having grown up in Atlanta as the son of a New York Yankees fan. He was rehearsing with Arena Theater while watching the Yankees face their historic rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
“I’ve got my script here, paying attention to the actors. I’ve got my Yankees up here, and I’m going back and forth. It’s great. It’s fantastic. Such a good time,” he said.
Apinis was disappointed that, despite the Cubs having the most powerful offense in the league, they scored only one run across their two games against the Padres. “The top of the order couldn’t do anything,” he said, noting that the first two batters combined to go 0-for-15.
He is actively rooting against the Los Angeles Dodgers, citing their controversial deferral of more than $1 billion in player salaries. “The MLB needs a salary cap,” he said. “We have teams like the Dodgers spending obscene quantities of money, and then you have organizations that are kind of broke.”
Senior philosophy major Caleb Inman, a Diamondbacks fan, is also rooting against the Dodgers. “I’m not rooting for a team, but I do want lower money teams to do well,” he said.
Inman said the MLB postseason has a very good format. “Teams going from three games, then five games, then seven — I think the buildup’s good,” he said. “I don’t think in the playoffs you want to be watching mediocre teams playing the whole time.”
Though he is glad the White Sox ended their losing streak, he does not particularly care about their success. “They didn’t have a great run getting in,” he said. “Their division was just bad.”
Apinis’ decision to cheer on the Braves does not stem solely from geographical loyalties; he also hates the Phillies and their hometown. “Brotherly love? They’re covering for something. There is none of that — they’re just a city of menaces.”
Sophomore Liam Power, a mechanical engineering major from the Philadelphia area, is similarly rooting for whoever takes out the Dodgers. He gave up on the Phillies even before they fell to the Braves, but still loves his hometown.
“We have so much brotherly love, and it’s because of that brotherly love that we have lost hope in the Phillies — to uphold that brotherly love in a brotherly loving fashion,” Power said.
Senior biochemistry and molecular biology major Hyunseo “Sonny” Son was indifferent to the prospect of a Cubs-White Sox Series, noting his loyalties lie with one team. “I only care about the Brewers,” he said.
He firmly believes the Brewers will win their first World Series, expecting them to demolish the Yankees in the Fall Classic. “They recently hit 100 wins, and they clinched the playoffs earlier than any other team, so I think the Brewers are going to win the whole thing,” he said.
Can the White Sox, a team that set the MLB record for most losses (121) in a 162-game season just two years ago and became the first team to reach the playoffs after at least two consecutive 100-loss seasons, continue their run through October and win their fourth World Series? Pope Leo XIV certainly hopes so.
Guyer, though, is more ambivalent. “Best of luck to them,” she said.
