Chicago Sports

When his older daughter started playing hockey in 2017, Ryan Kalcich realized his family ought to pick an NHL team to follow.

But living near Green Bay, Wisconsin, there was no obvious choice.

”The Wild games are blacked out here, so we couldn’t watch them,” he said. ”We bought an NHL package online, and it was like, ‘The Blackhawks used to be pretty good, and they have some pretty good players.’ ”

The Kalciches have remained Hawks fans since, even as the team’s performance has lagged. But the four-hour driving distance from their house to downtown Chicago, combined with the Hawks rarely playing Saturday home games, has made it difficult for him to take his daughters — his younger one since has taken up hockey, too — to see the Hawks live.

That will change this weekend. For the first time in 29 years, the NHL will return to Wisconsin when the Hawks and Wild face off in a preseason game Sunday in Milwaukee at Fiserv Forum, the home of the NBA’s Bucks.

Although the American Hockey League’s Admirals and the University of Wisconsin’s hockey programs long have cultivated sizable followings, hosting a (somewhat) official NHL game on home soil represents a new high-water mark for Wisconsin’s slowly growing hockey community.

”We were all pretty jacked when we heard,” Kalcich said. ”It shows NHL hockey to the Wisconsin area. And the fact it’s against the Wild makes it even better.”

Neutral-site preseason games, driven by the NHL’s interest in growing the popularity of hockey outside pre-existing hotbeds and influenced by typically poor attendance for preseason games in NHL arenas, have existed for decades.

Fourteen non-NHL cities — ranging from Bern, Switzerland, to Gander, Newfoundland, to Boise, Idaho — will host exhibitions this year, including some that do so almost annually.

Milwaukee used to be in that rotation. The Bradley Center, the Bucks’ former arena, hosted games annually from 1988 to 1993, including a Hawks-Kings regular-season matchup in December 1992. Milwaukee was considered a prime candidate for an NHL expansion team at the time, with former Hawks broadcaster Lloyd Pettit offering $72 million in a bid that never came to fruition.

Hawks business president Jaime Faulkner was watching a stream of the Blues-Hawks exhibition game last year — held in the Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri — when the thought that evolved into this game first crossed her mind.

”It gave me the idea of, ‘Should we be thinking of doing a neutral-site game?’ ” Faulkner said. ”Coming up with the location that would be great for our players and for our fans, I thought of Fiserv immediately.

”I called [Bucks president] Peter Feigin, who I know really well, and said: ‘Hey, I’ve got this crazy idea. What would you think if we came in and played a preseason game?’ I couldn’t even get the sentence completed, and he was like, ‘Hell, yeah, let’s do it.’ ”

Neither Faulkner nor Feigin realized at the time what a significant undertaking planning the game would be. It turned out new boards had to be purchased and installed because the boards the arena previously had used for college hockey tournaments didn’t meet NHL standards. Sorting out the Hawks’ and Bucks’ sometimes-overlapping, sometimes-conflicting corporate sponsorships was also a puzzle.

But selling tickets proved to be simple, because demand was sky-high from the start.

Advance sales to Hawks and Bucks season-ticket holders gobbled up nearly all the roughly 15,000 available seats. Once ticket sales went public, the game sold out in less than an hour. Remarkably, Wisconsin residents accounted for 81% of sales, compared with 7% from Illinois and 11% from other states, including Minnesota.

”It shouldn’t have been a surprise, because the data indicated this would be the case, but we were thrilled,” Faulkner said. ”We have been doing a lot of analysis of where our fan base is . . . [and] we have a lot of fans to the north of us, extending into Milwaukee.”

At McGillycuddy’s, which proclaims itself to be Milwaukee’s only official Blackhawks bar, manager T.J. Tomes has seen plenty of anecdotal evidence of that.

The bar typically draws a few dozen Hawks fans on an average game night, but its crowds have dwindled since the dynasty era. Leading up to the 6:30 p.m. puck drop Sunday, however, Tomes said he expects the atmosphere to compare to the Stanley Cup runs of old.

”Fans are going to come out of the woodwork,” he said.

The Hawks’ trip to Milwaukee also will be special for one of its primary participants: new forward Colin Blackwell.

Blackwell met his fianc?e, Lauren, while playing for the Admirals in 2019-20 and now calls Milwaukee home, living there during his summers off. Many of his future in-laws will be in attendance Sunday, watching him play in an NHL game for the first time in person.

”Sometimes when you play this game, people don’t realize I’m not by my friends and family really ever,” Blackwell said. ”[This will be] special because she has some grandparents and family that are a little bit new to hockey and really haven’t gotten a chance to watch me play over the last couple of years.”

He said he expects a lively mood in the building.

”[Wisconsin’s] hockey community is really blossoming, and it’s slowly catching up with the surrounding states,” he said. ”A lot of people are Wild fans and a lot of people are Blackhawks fans, so to have those two teams come in . . . is going to be awesome.”

The Hawks would like to make hosting a preseason home game somewhere outside Chicago into an annual tradition, Faulkner said, and planning for a 2023 event will begin soon. Rockford, Indianapolis and South Bend, Indiana, are three possible cities under consideration.

But first comes Sunday and Milwaukee’s long-awaited reintroduction to the NHL.

Notes:

Defenseman Connor Murphy has missed the last two days of training camp with lower-back soreness and likely won’t play in either preseason game this weekend. (The Hawks will host the Red Wings on Saturday at the United Center before their trip Sunday to Milwaukee.) Coach Luke Richardson said Murphy’s absence is mainly precautionary.The Hawks cut their camp roster to 50 on Friday, assigning a dozen players to the IceHogs’ camp.Read More

Cute title, this week, huh? With all due respect to the original and biblical ”Pride goeth before the fall” from the Book of Proverbs, my Book of Four Seasons (not the one with Frankie Valli) indicates that summer precedes the fall.

Baseball is made up of four seasons: the spring, which is when it begins; the summer, when most of the season is played; the fall, when the playoffs and World Series are played; and the offseason, when we wait for baseball to resume.

Today’s questions focus on the summer, those miserable days from June 21 to Sept. 22, when hopes went from high to being dashed in Chicago. But you can make up for it by doing well on the quiz today. Good luck.

1. Who had a better won/lost record this summer?

a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same

2. Who hit more home runs this summer?

a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same

3. Who had a better ERA this summer?

a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same

4. Did Sox batters have more strikeouts or did their pitchers strike out more opponents this summer? Or was the number the same?

5. Eloy Jimenez led Chicago with 13 homers this summer. Patrick Wisdom was next with 11. Ian Happ was one of three Chicagoans with 10 (Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn were the other two). Was the Eloy, Patrick and Ian total (that would be 34) more, less or the same as Aaron Judge?

6. Which Sox pitcher suffered the most losses this summer?

a. Johnny Cueto

b. Lance Lynn

c. Lucas Giolito

d. Michael Kopech

e. They all lost the same number

7. Who led Chicago in extra-base hits this

summer?

a. Ian Happ

b. Andrew Vaughn

c. Jose Abreu

d. Nico Hoerner

e. They all had the same number

8. Which team had the most come-from-behind victories (winning a game in which the opponent held the lead at any point) this summer?

a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same

9. OK, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ third

No. 1 hit was ”Walk Like a Man.” Rays pitchers walked 184 batters this summer, the fewest in the majors. Sox pitchers walked 245 and Cubs pitchers walked 274. The Yankees drew 325 walks this summer to lead the majors. Which Chicago team walked more frequently?

a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same

ANSWERS

1. The Cubs went 40-43, and the White Sox went 44-41. The Sox were 12th in the majors and the Cubs 16th.

2. The Cubs out-homered the Sox 84-82.

3. The Cubs’ ERA was 3.58, ninth in the majors; the Sox’ ERA was 3.70, 10th in the majors.

4. Sox batters struck out 677 times and their pitchers recorded 729 whiffs. In case you were wondering (I know you were), Cubs batters struck out 753 times and their pitchers whiffed 708 opponents.

5. Aaron Judge, the star of the summer, slammed 35 homers, one more than Chicago’s top three homer hitters.

6. They all lost six times. For that matter, Mark Leiter Jr. led the Cubs in losses with six, as well.

7. Ian Happ had 35 extra-base hits, Andrew Vaughn 28, Jose Abreu 27 and Nico Hoerner 24.

8. The Cubs had 17 comebacks; the Sox had 20.

9. The Cubs walked 231 times. It wouldn’t have killed the Sox to walk more than 209 times. They were 26th in the majors.

Oh, ”Sherry” and ”Big Girls Don’t Cry” were the first two No. 1 singles for the Four Seasons.

Hey, don’t worry about what season it is, the quizmaster is not going anywhere. I’ll see you next week.

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There’s still time for Justin Fields to straighten out his season and show he can be a franchise quarterback, but he’s already in quite a deep hole.

No NFL quarterback has thrown fewer passes this season, or accomplished so little with them. Fields has the least yardage and highest interception percentage by a wide margin heading into the Bears’ game against the Giants on Sunday. And it’s hard to decide which is more jarring, his 51.1% completion rate or his 50.0 passer rating through three games. Both, again, are league lows.

There’s still a lot of hope for Fields because during his turbulent two seasons, there have been moments that spark it. And when the fans and organization want so badly for it to be true, it doesn’t take much to keep those dreams going.

Remember his wild touchdown run against the 49ers last season? The frenzied rally in Pittsburgh on “Monday Night Football”? The way he kept the Bears within reach deep into the fourth quarter against the Packers in his fourth career start?

All three of those games ended in defeat, by the way, but the focus was on Fields showing promise. At some point, however, he has to deliver on that promise by playing consistently. Almost any quarterback can pull off some big plays — or even big games — here and there.

Fields’ struggles are alarming because they’ve come at a time when everyone expected he’d be coming into his own. They’re also concerning because this isn’t a sharp departure from his overall performance last season. Through 15 career games, he has completed 57.8% of his passes and thrown for nine touchdowns against 14 interceptions for a 69.9 passer rating.

Over the last three decades, the list of quarterbacks who had a sub-70.0 rating through 15 games is scary — only sparsely decorated with players turning that around to achieve long-term success. It includes many more dreadful draft picks (David Carr, Rick Mirer, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington) than it does resurgent mainstays (Donovan McNabb, Alex Smith). The Bears’ 1999 first-round pick, Cade McNown, is on that list. Through his first 15 games, he was at 67.7.

And although passer rating is not the all-encompassing, defining statistic it sounds like, it does provide a reasonable sketch of a quarterback’s performance — minus his rushing prowess, which is a significant factor for Fields, who has 515 yards and three touchdowns as a runner.

Among the 16 quarterbacks who were first- or second-team on any of the foremost All-Pro lists over the last decade, the average passer rating for their first 15 games was 88.0.

Of the 11 quarterbacks — yes, 11 — who made the Pro Bowl last season, the average passer rating for their first 15 games was 90.8.

Passer ratings in that range aren’t amazing, but they pointed toward bright futures for most of the quarterbacks.

The lowest of that group was Josh Allen at 71.7, and he has been an MVP contender the last three seasons, so that provides at least a little optimism for Fields. Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Kirk Cousins were in the 70s through 15 games, as well.

One of the Pro Bowl quarterbacks last season was Mac Jones, whom the Patriots drafted four spots after the Bears took Fields at No. 11. Jones landed in the most favorable situation of any rookie that year and has made the most of it, currently leading the 2021 draft class with an 89.9 passer rating, 67.3% completion rate, 4,587 yards and 24 touchdown passes. He also has thrown a class-worst 18 interceptions, including three pick-sixes.

Fields, meanwhile, beats only the Jets’ Zach Wilson in passer rating (69.7) and completion percentage (55.6%), and he has the highest interception percentage at 4.4%.

There are a variety of mitigating factors that must be considered in Fields’ case. When Giants owner John Mara said of quarterback Daniel Jones in January, “We’ve done everything possible to screw this kid up,” it was easy to imagine the same line coming from Bears chairman George McCaskey about Fields. There was so much wrong with his rookie season under former coach Matt Nagy that it’s hard to identify what the Bears actually accomplished with him. When Ryan Poles took over as general manager, he said the adverse circumstances clouded his evaluation of Fields.

Asked what good came out of his 2021 experience, Fields told the Sun-Times, “You may not know now why that happened last year, so I can’t fully answer that question for you, but you might find that out in the next two or three years. It’s just all about the journey.”

Fields spent the months before his rookie season stuck on second string behind journeyman Andy Dalton, and Nagy never seemed to know what to do with him. In his debut, he played five snaps sprinkled in against the Rams as part of a plan that was as confusing as it was ineffective. In Fields’ first start against the Browns, Nagy’s game plan was so disastrous that the Bears had their worst offensive output in more than 40 years and Nagy gave up play-calling shortly after.

There also were major flaws in the personnel assembled by former general manager Ryan Pace, leaving Fields to play behind an unreliable offensive line and throw to an inadequate crew of targets. The Bears are still seeking concrete proof that Poles has fixed those issues.

Nonetheless, Fields was the one who threw those passes. He’s not absolved from poor decisions and inaccurate throws because of what went on around him. As he grows, he’ll need to rise above imperfect circumstances.

But he needs to do it quickly. There’s only so long the Bears can wait.

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At some point, everyone in the NBA is weighed, measured and found wanting.

That’s the reality of the league.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan knows exactly how it works.

This will be the third year of the four-year deal Donovan signed in 2020. He coached through a pandemic and a roster turnover in his first season, got the franchise back to the playoffs last season and has a whole new set of expectations tossed upon his shoulders this season, which tips off in a few weeks.

Those expectations were laid down this week by executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.

“We’ve talked to Billy, and obviously last year we were not surprised we made the playoffs,” Karnisovas said. “A lot of people were surprised. Nor should we be surprised to make the playoffs this year, but we want to see improvement.

“We have to do better than last year . . . you can get by a round. Those are the expectations.”

Fair or unfair, there are layers to Karnisovas’ statement.

First, does that mean it will be second round or bust for Donovan and his coaching future? Second, if the Bulls should fall short of those expectations, is Karnisovas the type of executive who falls on the sword and pins the blame on roster-building or does he go into survival mode and put the onus on Donovan?

Finally, and maybe more important, is the front office raising those expectationsunderstanding the reality of the Eastern Conference and just saying the right things or has it fooled itself into thinking that this team is somehow better than it is perceived by most?

This season will tell a lot about Karnisovas & Co., and Donovan could be the scapegoat depending on which direction the Bulls go.

Welcome to the pressure of NBA coaching, a pool Donovan has been swimming in since 2015.

“I think I’m always in that pool regardless, whether it was my first year or last year: How do you continue to make the crew better?” Donovan said when asked if he was feeling more pressure than usual this season.

And while he’s on board with the expectation of getting past Round 1, he’s also dealing in reality.

“If you look at [last] season in its totality, we made a jump from the first year to the second year, but if you really start to put a magnifying glass up to it, after the All-Star break against some of the better teams, we were really, really dominated,” Donovan said. “How do we get better in those areas against those elite teams?”

That’s what Donovan and his staff have to figure out.

And they’ll have to solve the problem with starting point guard Lonzo Ball (left knee surgery) sidelined at least six more weeks and almost the same cast of characters in a league that seemed to figure out how to slow down DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine.

Good luck.

Another side note: Donovan has never been fired from a coaching gig — college or NBA.

“I think we had the third-best record last year in close games, but when you go against the best teams, and there weren’t a lot of games, to be honest with you, that we were close against those teams, but the games that we were, we were 1-8,” Donovan said. “[Relying on DeRozan and LaVine], that’s only going to get us so far. We have to do other things to take another step, and that’s where I think our focus has to be.”

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SAN DIEGO — Davis Martin recorded a career high for strikeouts, Eloy Jimenez homered and Yoan Moncada had three hits, lifting the White Sox past the Padres 3-1 for their second straight victory.

The Sox (78-79) need to win four of their last five games to finish above .500 and three of five to finish 81-81. The Padres (86-71) are playing for higher stakes with a magic number of three to secure their first trip to the postseason in a full 162-game schedule since 2006.

“You could feel it coming into it,” Martinsaid. “It’s the games you want to pitch in. It’s the games that are most fun. Walking out and kind of looking around, did a little 360 real quick, you realize this is as close to playoff baseball as we are going to find. It was a blast, a lot of fun.”

Martin (3-5, 3.64 ERA) struck out a career high eight batters over 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, walking none.

“I had confidence in a lot of different pitches. All four of them,” Martin said.

Aaron Bummer struck out Juan Soto looking with two runners on in the seventh to get Kendall Graveman out of a jam, Jimmy Lambert (two strikeouts) pitched a scoreless eighth and Liam Hendriks worked a perfect ninth for his 35th save. Sox pitchers fanned Padres hitters 15 times.

“There were a lot of people here, it was like a playoff atmosphere,” acting manager Miguel Cairo said. “They’re trying to clinch the playoff spot and right now we’re going to play hard.”

Padres right-hander Yu Darvish, denied in his bid to register a career-high 18th win, pitched six innings and gave up three runs on eight hits, including a solo homer by Eloy Jimenez in the fourth. Darvish was pushed back a day for extra rest as the NL wild-card round approaches.

The Sox scored a second run in the fourth when Sheets followed the Jimenez homer with a double and Yoan Moncada singled Sheets home. The Sox made it 3-1 in the sixth when Moncada doubled to deep right center and Vaughn singled to score Moncada, who had three hits.

The Padres led 1-0 in the second on Josh Bell’s RBI single scoring Brandon Drury, who was hit on the bill of his helmet by a Martin pitch in the fourth. Martin was shaken by it, settled down to retire the next two batters.

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1. Mount Carmel (6-0)

Won 28-21 at Brother Rice

2. Loyola (6-0)

Won 28-17 at No. 11 Marist

3. Lincoln-Way East (6-0)

Won 44-0 at Sandburg

4. Glenbard West (5-1)

Lost 17-13 at No. 6 York

5. Simeon (6-0)

Won 42-8 vs. Curie at Lane

6. York (6-0)

Won 17-13 vs. No. 4 Glenbard West

7. Hersey (6-0)

Won 35-14 vs. Rolling Meadows

8. Lemont (6-0)

Won 63-6 vs. TF North

9. Prospect (5-1)

Won 35-21 at Elk Grove

10. Bolingbrook (4-2)

Won 43-36 vs. No. 20 H-F

11. Marist (3-3)

Lost 28-17 vs. No. 2 Loyola

12. St. Rita (4-2)

Won 33-10 at Nazareth

13. Warren (5-1)

Won 48-8 at Mundelein

14. Maine South (4-2)

Won 23-16 at No. 21 Glenbrook South

15. Crete-Monee (4-2)

Won 66-0 vs. Thornridge

16. Joliet Catholic (5-1)

Won 49-28 at St. Laurence

17. Neuqua Valley (5-1)

Won 36-0 vs. Metea Valley

18. Naperville North (4-2)

Lost 10-7 (OT) vs. Naperville Central

19. Prairie Ridge (5-1)

Won 62-34 at Hampshire

20. Homewood-Flossmoor (4-2)

Lost 43-36 at No. 10 Bolingbrook

21. Glenbrook South (5-1)

Lost 23-16 vs. No. 14 Maine South

22. Wheaton North (5-1)

Won 21-14 vs. Glenbard North

23. Batavia (4-2)

Won 35-0 vs. Wheaton-Warrenville South

24. Kankakee (5-1)

Won 34-8 vs. Rich

25. Notre Dame (4-2)

Lost 21-14 vs. Benet

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SAN DIEGO — White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal paused for several seconds, contemplating the question.

What went wrong with the 2022 Sox?

”Obviously, it was a very frustrating year for everybody as a whole,” Grandal said before the Sox opened their final road series of the season Friday against the Padres. ”It just seemed like everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. When you thought it was kind of coming back, it just never went back. It just kept going wrong.

”To put it plain and simple, we just sucked. Anything else would be an excuse, and the last thing you want to make as a team, as an individual, is an excuse.”

As an individual, Grandal wasn’t good. He struggled defensively and hit .200/.301/.269 with only five home runs in 97 games in the third year of his four-year, $73 million contract, the richest in club history.

Grandal didn’t walk nearly as much this season, and his .570 OPS is well off his career .785 mark and way behind his .939 of last season. He said next year ”will be a way different story” because he expects his legs to be stronger after dealing with knee problems in both the last two seasons.

”It’s gotten better and better,” he said. ”I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do in the offseason to get back to the explosiveness I’ve been talking about.”

With knees in better shape to allow for more intense workouts, Grandal said he hopes to return to normal strength levels. He will work out in Chicago during the offseason and kiddingly invited reporters to come and watch him.

The Sox’ poor performance after entering the season with high expectations was a stark reminder that nothing is guaranteed, even to heavy favorites defending a title in a weak division.

”It’s almost like a slap in the face,” Grandal said. ”If you don’t take this year seriously, it’s going to come back to bite us in the [butt] next year again. Hopefully we get everything straightened out and come back next year and give it a shot.”

Acting manager MigueI Cairo has talked all week about players coming to spring training in good shape for next season. He agreed with Grandal’s ”slap in the face” take, knowing the Sox made the postseason the last two years.

”You’ve got to be looking at yourself in the mirror and saying: ‘OK, why didn’t we make it? Why didn’t we go to the postseason? What do I need to do to get better?’ ” Cairo said.

”Coming in knowing what we had, knowing what we can do and knowing what we needed to do and then all of a sudden everything going out of the window, it’s eye-opening,” Grandal said.

This and that

Shortstop Elvis Andrus’ leadoff double Friday against Padres starter Yu Darvish snapped an 0-for-24 streak.

oWith a 77-79 record entering play Friday, the Sox needed to win five of their last six games to finish above .500 and four of their last six to finish 81-81. They end the season with three home games against the Twins.

oThe Sox played in San Diego for the first time since 2005.

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York senior Kelly Watson was the last player off the field on Friday in Elmhurst. There were interviews to do and congratulations to receive.

Watson’s 94-yard kick return touchdown was one of the biggest plays in the Dukes’ 17-13 win against conference rival Glenbard West, so why not enjoy the night as long as possible?

One final fan reached out as Watson walked through the gate: “I don’t know you, but that was a heck of a kick return.”

The return was also the first moment that Hilltoppers coach Chad Hetlet brought up after the loss: “Gosh, you give up a kickoff return right after we score? That was the biggest play of the game. That’s a big momentum stealer.”

The kickoff return TD came late in the first half, just 16 seconds after No. 4 Glenbard West took a 10-7 lead on a five-yard run by quarterback Korey Tai.

“We practiced that [kick return] all year,” Watson said. “We’ve been so close to hitting on it and today was the day. I caught the ball, looked down and the hole was wide open. I just trusted my speed and got out of there. I couldn’t be more proud of the special teams unit for the blocking.”

Watson had 17 carries for 31 yards in the game. Glenbard West’s defense was incredibly stout against the run, but Watson and quarterback Matt Vezza kept at it, finding enough yardage to pick up some first downs.

Vezza had 10 carries for 38 yards. He was 11-for-16 passing with one interception and a crucial 43-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Specht in the fourth quarter. That touchdown pass provided the winning margin, but it wasn’t quite that easy.

Glenbard West (5-1, 2-1 West Suburban Silver) blocked a punt with 1:30 remaining. That set the Hilltoppers up at York’s 20 with a chance to win the game.

But the No. 6 Dukes snuffed out the drive on the first play. Matt Sutter picked off a pass to seal the win for York (6-0, 4-0).

“It was a close game the whole way and it comes down to certain plays,” Vezza said. “Specht ran a great route and made a great catch to finish the play and there was great blocking by the offensive line on that rollout.”

There were five lead changes in the game, thrilling the huge crowd that York coach Mike Fitzgerald estimated at possibly close to 8,000.

“It was a shoestring tackle here or there,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s why I love these kids, the effort and the heart to hang on. We’ve got guys willing to sacrifice themselves for the team.”

Luke Mailander was Vezza’s favorite target. The junior had five receptions for 61 yards.

“Vezza plays with no fear,” Hetlet said. “He makes the plays he’s got to make. He takes care of the ball. They did an awesome job.”

Tai was 7-for-17 passing for 82 yards with one interception. The Hilltoppers didn’t complete a pass in the second half.

Julius Ellins had 20 carries for 87 yards for Glenbard West and Joey Pople added five carries for 33 yards.

York knocked off Lyons last week. The Dukes’ remaining games are at Hinsdale Central, home against Willowbrook and at Oak Park. It’s not inconceivable that they could head into the state playoffs unbeaten.

Glenbard West has been considered one of the area’s elite teams since August. The tight game probably did more to elevate York’s status than harm the Hilltoppers.

“We’re very young defensively and we really matured in a big game tonight,” Hetlet said.

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SAN DIEGO — There are six games left in the White Sox’ season, none of which will be managed by Tony La Russa.

But La Russa, who turns 78 on Tuesday, has one year left on his contract. It stands to reason, however, that he won’t return for 2023 after being forced to give up his managerial duties Aug. 30 for medical reasons related to his pacemaker. General manager Rick Hahn could offer clarity on La Russa’s future as early as next week.

A source close to La Russa and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said he expects Reinsdorf to give La Russa the option of coming back but also will encourage him not to do so for his own personal good.

After winning the American League Central in 2021 in La Russa’s first season after Reinsdorf brought him out of retirement, the Sox have suffered through a catastrophic 2022, not only failing to make the playoffs but threatening not even to finish .500. Such results ordinarily would put a manager under fire, considering the organization’s World Series aspirations.

It seems best for all involved to turn the page. But La Russa’s Hall of Fame r?sum? and friendship with Reinsdorf casts his future in a unique light. Also, should La Russa not return, it’s not known how much influence Reinsdorf will exert on the choice to replace him — as he did with La Russa — or whether he would hand the decision to Hahn (in collaboration with vice president Ken Williams).

Should the Sox make a change and bring in their fourth manager in eight years and third in the last four, here is a list of potential candidates with connections to the organization and from the outside.

Sox-connected

Willie Harris. The Cubs’ third-base coach played on the Sox’ 2005 World Series team and coached in their farm system. Harris, 44, interviewed for the job before La Russa was hired.

A.J. Pierzynski. A face of the 2005 Sox, a fan favorite and a Fox broadcaster, Pierzynski, 45, has no coaching experience but has a high baseball IQ, personality and an edge. He has expressed a desire to manage.

Ozzie Guillen. The 2005 manager’s popularity has surged with his entertaining and pointed pregame and postgame work, and he probably would jump at a second opportunity. Reinsdorf has recommended him for other jobs but said in 2017 that Guillen, 58, ”can’t come back here.”

Chris Getz. A bit of a long shot, the assistant GM in charge of player development has no managerial experience but is considered a bright mind who knows the organization inside and out. Getz, 39, hasn’t ruled out interest when asked about the possibility.

Miguel Cairo. The Sox’ bench coach, 48, deserves consideration after taking over for La Russa under challenging circumstances and guiding the team to a 13-6 record before its recent slide.

No Sox ties

Bruce Bochy. The three-time World Series champ with 25 years of managerial experience retired after 2019 but is managing France in the qualifying rounds of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Bochy, 67, is regarded as a top manager in the game.

Joe Girardi. If major-league experience is a top qualification, Girardi, 57, makes the cut with 14 seasons, including a World Series title in 2009 with the Yankees. But he was fired by the Phillies in June.

Joe Maddon. Maddon, 68, seems not to be overly eager to return to the dugout after getting fired by Angels this season, and it’s hard to see him blending in with the Sox’ management team. But his r?sum? is hard to match.

Mike Shildt. The Padres’ third-base coach, 54, led the Cardinals to three consecutive playoff berths but was fired after last season, to the surprise of many.

Joe Espada. Espada, 47, has served as the Astros’ bench coach for A.J. Hinch, whom Hahn wanted to hire two years ago, and Dusty Baker. He interviewed for the Cubs’ managerial job when David Ross was hired.

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The Bears have an important player that needs to show more promising upside as 2022 moves forward

The Bears took a shot back in the 2017 NFL Draft to select Mitch Trubisky with the 2nd overall pick. Trubisky turned out to not be a hit for the Bears, especially considering that Mahomes was taken after him.

Fast forward to the 2021 NFL Draft and the Chicago Bears took another shot at a first round QB. To this point of his career, Fields has shown insane athleticism and flashes of elite upside, but has failed to be consistent throughout his career.

2022 has not been off to a great start for Fields, but that is just as much on the game script as it is on him. Week 1 was played in terrible weather , but even when behind to the Packers, Eberflus stilled elected to let the ground game take control.

So, what if Fields fails to show the development that they need to by the end of the 2022 campaign? Here are a few possibilities for the Bears if that turns out to be the case.

1. Use the 2023 NFL Draft

The 2023 NFL Draft is one that contains some solid QB candidates. Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Levis, Anthony Richardson, and Tyler Van Dyke lead the potential QB candidates taken within the first couple rounds. Young and Stroud are assumed to be the first 2 picks, but would it be wise to try to make a splash and grab one of those two?

The Bears can also elect to take a guy like Richardson or Van Dyke in the second round if they so choose. This would have a safety net in place if Fields does not produce beyond 2022.

2. Bring in a Veteran to Force Fields to Battle for the Starting Role

Although the 2023 free agency class doesn’t include a top tier QB, it does have plenty of veterans that could give Fields a run for his money and force him to develop at a pace that the team needs. Some of these names include Baker Mayfield, Gardner Minshew, Teddy Bridgewater, and Jacoby Brissett. Brissett has been one of the best backups in the NFL, as he has done a great job stepping up when needed to in recent seasons. He would be the best man to target for the Bears front office if they so choose to go this route.

3. Make a Splash Trade at the Deadline

With the news of Roquan Smith’s contract situation coming out before the season got started, he could very well be a trade target that the Bears could use to trade for a solid QB candidate. It seems as though the NFL starting QBs consist of either very good veterans or highly touted young guys, but who are some of the middle of the road guys that the Bears could try to target? Here are a few names: Lamar Jackson, Jameis Winston and Jimmy Garoppolo.

Lamar Jackson makes the most sense for a team that is currently dominating in the run game.

4. Trust the Process

Stick with Fields regardless of how the season pans out and trust the process that was instated prior to the Ryan Poles era. Fields has a ton of upside, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much he impresses us fans, because it is up to Ryan Poles and how he sees things.

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