I'm Literally the Only Person Who Cares About This Crosstown Classic: A CSS / Strat-O-Matic Simulation
My favorite Cubs and White Sox teams weren't great. In our latest Strat-O-Matic sim, we found out which was less not great.
BECAUSE WE’RE SPORTS FANS, we stick with our teams even when they’re the definition of meh.
My Chicago sports-viewing life has been more meh than not, yet here I am, taking time out of my busy mornings week after week to write about more meh.
Because I stick.
For the Cubs and the White Sox, the summer of 1975 was about as meh as it could get. The South Siders wrapped up the year with a record of 75-86, good for fifth place in the American League West. Their Wrigleyville counterparts finished at 75-87, earning them, you guessed it, fifth place in the National League East.
But that year, I dug ‘em both, because, to paraphrase mountain climber Edmund Hillary, they were there.
Bear in mind, these teams were far from terrible. For the Cubs, third baseman Bill Madlock won the NL batting title with a monster average of .354, while second baseman Manny Trillo finished third in Rookie of the Year voting.
Meanwhile over at Comiskey Park, starters Wilbur Wood and Jim Kaat combined for 36 wins, and Goose Gossage racked up a league-leading 26 saves.
And I watched an obscene number of those games.
Back then, the Crosstown Classic wasn’t a thing, so we had no idea which 75-win squad trumped the other. But that changes now.
My buddies at Strat-O-Matic simulated a best-of-seven series between two squads that didn’t deserve to be a part of any best-of-seven series — a simulation that will justifiably get the fewest clicks of any SOM/CSS sim ever.
(Game recaps courtesy of Strat-O-Matic.)
GAME ONE
With the wind blowing out in Wrigley, it was little wonder that Sox semi-ace Wilbur Wood’s dancing knuckleball baffled the Cubs’ hitters.
The Sox tagged #1 Cubs starter Rick Reuschel for a pair of three-run frames, the key hits being a two-run triples by Pat Kelly (who also hit a third-inning solo home run), and Ken Henderson.
Wood went the distance in the six-hit shutout, fanning five. Henderson and Bucky Dent had three hits each for the White Sox.
(White Sox lead series 1-0)
GAME TWO
Brian Downing’s three-run first inning dinger set the tone, and a six-run second aided by three Cubbie errors chased starter Bill Bonham.
Downing finished the contest with three hits and five RBIs to pace the Sox’ 16-hit attack and make a winner of Jim Kaat, who pitched into the seventh, with star fireman Goose Gossage getting the four-out save.
(White Sox lead series 2-0)
GAME THREE
The first game at Comiskey Park pitted Claude Osteen — finishing up his 18-year career with a 16-loss season — against Cubs third-year fireballer Ray Burris.
The Cubbies broke a 2-2 tie with a decisive five-run fourth that featured consecutive run-scoring hits by Rick Monday, George Mitterwald and Champ Summers.
Youth was served, as the 24-year-old Burris outpitched the grizzled Osteen, going the distance.
(White Sox lead series 2-1)
GAME FOUR
After the Sox pulled to within 5-4 on an RBI single by Downing in the fifth, the Cubs tacked on insurance runs in three of the next four innings to make a winner of Steve Stone.
Manny Trillo’s third-inning three-run jack and Rick Monday’s solo shot in the eighth paced a 12-hit attack that drew the Cubs even in the series.
(Series tied 2-2)
GAME FIVE
The White Sox built a 4-0 lead on two RBI singles by Nyls Nyman and a solo homer by Bill Stein.
Jefferson made up for his Game 1 debacle by pitching into the sixth, helping the Sox to a workmanlike W.
(White Sox lead series 3-2)
GAME SIX
With a 4-3 lead entering the seventh, Kaat gave up the tying single to Trillo before Hamilton and Dan Osborn got shelled in the Cubs’ six-run eighth, setting up the inevitable Game Seven.
(Series tied 3-3)
GAME SEVEN
With two outs in the top of the seventh and bases empty, shortstop Don Kessinger threw away Pat Kelly’s grounder, and the ChiSox capitalized with a run-scoring double by Bill Stein and a back-breaking, bases-clearing three-run two-bagger by Henderson.
Kelly’s solo shot and Henderson’s RBI single in the fifth was all Wilbur Wood needed, as the lefty earned his second dub of the series, officially anointing the 1975 White Sox “The Mediocrest Amongst the Mediocre.”
(White Sox win series 4-3)
KEY STATISTICS
Chicago White Sox
Ken Henderson .407, 5 runs, 7 RBI
Pat Kelly .357, 2 HR, 7 RBI
Bucky Dent .333, 4 doubles, 4 RBI
Brian Downing .355, 8 RBI
Wood, 2-1, 2.52 ERA
Chicago Cubs
Bill Madlock .375, HR, 9 RBI
Jose Cardenal .364, 4 runs
Jerry Morales, .375, 4 RBI
Rick Reuschel, 0-2, 9.26 ERA
MVP
Ken Henderson