White Sox future is still more promising than the Cubs

The Chicago White Sox have nothing to hang their heads over how 2020 went for them.

It’s pretty clear the Chicago White Sox are trending up, while the Chicago Cubs are trending down.

Whenever a team that has gone through so much losing of late happens to arrive a year ahead of schedule in their rebuilding process, it’s always great to see. Had it been a regular, 162-game MLB season, maybe the White Sox don’t make the five-team AL postseason field. Despite falling to the Oakland Athletics in Game 3 on Thursday as the No. 7 seed, their future is brighter than the Cubs.

The White Sox should be the favorites to win the AL Central next season.

With stars all over the diamond in Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert, there’s no reason the South Siders can’t win the 2021 AL Central division title. The Cleveland Indians‘ competitive life cycle is on the decline. Who knows what happens to Francisco Lindor? As for the Minnesota Twins, they’re never going to win a postseason game ever again.

And with the Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals rebuilding, Chicago is in great shape to host postseason baseball games at Guaranteed Rate Field next year. With a superstar ace pitcher in Lucas Giolito and a crafty veteran left-hander with championship experience in Dallas Keuchel, the White Sox are really only an arm or two away from making serious noise in the AL next year.

As for the Cubs, though their season is still alive, it remains in the balances. Chicago has to win its next two games to avoid being eliminated at home by the Miami Marlins in their best-of-three NL Wild Card series. Though the team got off to a fantastic 13-3 start under new manager David Ross, it still feels like the remnants of an old Joe Maddon team that is still living in 2016.

If the Cubs were to win two elimination games over the Fish, they will have to face an Atlanta Braves team that didn’t allow a single run over 22 innings in their best-of-three series vs. the Cincinnati Reds. Atlanta would be a sizable favorite over whoever faces the Braves in the NLDS. Chicago could get to the NLCS, but the Cubs aren’t beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.

Even though the Cubs won the NL Central, how sure are we they’ll even make the postseason next year? Three of their division rivals made the postseason as well. The Cincinnati Reds are on the rise, the St. Louis Cardinals are battle-tested and the Milwaukee Brewers got in during a down year for them. The only team sure to be worse than them next year is the Pittsburgh Pirates.

While it stinks that the White Sox’s season is over, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. They arrived a year early and gave an excellent team like the A’s all they can handle. This was the A’s first postseason series victory since 2006. They needed to advance to get their fanbase and the national media off their backs. Now, it’s a showdown with the Houston Astros in Los Angeles.

With the White Sox on the rise, bigger things might be in store for them in 2021 than the Cubs.