One Chicago baseball team won 81 games. The other won 74. Naturally, the team with more wins earns the higher grade for its performance in 2022.
Right?
Of course not.
In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter, we asked voters to grade the 81-81 White Sox and the 74-88 Cubs. Seemingly, “F” must stand for “five-hundred record.” The underachieving Sox — not the low-expectation Cubs — got hammered with failing marks.
“Who is giving them anything but an F?” @crhode1 asked.
Add an F “for the fans who really thought this was a World Series team,” @Robovinnie23 wrote.
The Cubs, on the other hand, skated by without a whole lot of criticism.
“The Cubs had a successful second half,” @newenhuyse offered. “Many nice surprises. Big props to [manager] David Ross.”
“I give the Cubs credit,” @ShawnaP79 commented. “They played much harder than my Sox.”
Finally, we asked voters which of these powerhouse teams — the Astros, Yankees, Braves and Dodgers — has the best shot to win the World Series. On to the polls:
Poll No. 1: All things considered, give the White Sox (81-81) a grade for 2022.
Upshot: The Sox didn’t hit the long ball as expected, didn’t play good defense, didn’t get strong seasons from a couple of key members of the rotation, screwed up too often on the bases, brought inconsistent energy to the ballpark and were terrible — and we mean terrible — at Guaranteed Rate Field. Other than that, everything was wonderful.
Poll No. 2: All things considered, give the Cubs (74-88) a grade for 2022.
Upshot: It’s hard to blame the players for a losing record when half of them could stroll the streets of Wrigleyville without being stopped for an autograph or a photo or even recognized. The outmanned Cubs hung in there, played a lot of close games and showed a decent amount of promise in regard to this rebuild. Then again, it’s all in the wording, isn’t it? A grade for ownership or the front office probably would have been less generous.
Poll No. 3: Which 1 or 2 seed in the MLB playoffs has the best shot to win the World Series?
Upshot: @JBIRD1268 sees a Braves repeat coming, but the National League’s top-seeded Dodgers received far more support among voters. Given their embarrassment of riches, it’s no surprise. How about the puny number of votes for the Yankees? There was a time early on when they were the betting favorite to win the whole thing. Here, they’re not getting much respect at all.
