| Date | Location | Score | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| July Series — Wrigley Field / Guaranteed Rate Field | |||
| July 24 | Wrigley Field | Sox 3–1 | White Sox W: M. Gonzalez L: Grimm SV: Swarzak. HR: Engel (3), Davidson (19). Sox take the opener at Wrigley. |
| July 25 | Wrigley Field | Cubs 7–2 | Cubs W: Lackey L: Rodon. HR: Contreras (16). Cubs answer immediately. |
| July 26 | Guaranteed Rate Field | Cubs 8–3 | Cubs W: Arrieta L: Shields. HR: Russell (10). Arrieta dominates on the South Side. |
| July 27 | Guaranteed Rate Field | Cubs 6–3 | Cubs W: Lester L: Pelfrey. HR: Rizzo (24), Schwarber 2 (16 & 17), Garcia (2), Abreu 2 (17 & 18). 6 HRs in the finale. Cubs take the series. |
The 2017 Crosstown Classic played out exactly as you’d expect given the circumstances: defending World Series champion Cubs, Sox deep in a rebuild. Cubs won 3-1 with some occasional World Series hangover showing.
The Sox stole Game 1 at Wrigley behind Miguel Gonzalez and Adam Engel’s HR. The Cubs woke up immediately — Lackey won Game 2, Arrieta won Game 3 at the newly renamed Guaranteed Rate Field (U.S. Cellular Field got a new sponsor), and Lester closed it out in Game 4 with six home runs flying including two each from Schwarber and Abreu.
The Sox were in year one of their rebuild. Jose Quintana had been traded to the Cubs from the White Sox — in mid-July as the Cubs were in need of starting pitching after the injury bug hit their staff. By the time the Crosstown Classic came around, Quintana was already wearing Cubbie Blue.
Quintana was traded for four prospects — two of which were the Cubs’ top-ranked pitching (Dylan Cease — SP) and hitting (Eloy Jiménez — OF) prospects, along with infielders Matt Rose and Bryant Flete. Theo Epstein was quoted by Jesse Rogers of ESPN as saying: “Jose Quintana is probably more valuable to us at this moment in time than he is the White Sox. Our prospects at this moment in time are more valuable to the White Sox than us.”
Quintana helped the Cubs staff by always being available and was a solid starter, but never quite pitched as well with the Cubs (4.24 ERA over four years) as he did with the Sox (3.51 ERA over six seasons). Both Cease and Jiménez made their MLB debuts two years later in 2019. Jiménez had a hella good year — 31 dingers and 79 RBI in 122 games — and Sox fans were filled with delight thinking this was the start of many big years to come. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. His outfield play was atrocious and he could never stay healthy.
Cease started rocky but improved year after year: 2019 ERA 5.79, 2020: 4.01, 2021: 3.91 (226 Ks), 2022: 2.20 (227 Ks). In his last season with the Sox (2023), Cease’s ERA ballooned back to 4.58 — double the previous year, though he still had 224 Ks.
The talent gap between the two teams in 2017 was real. The Cubs finished 92-70. The Sox finished 67-95. The Cubs were firmly in ‘Win Now’ mode with Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Schwarber and a rotation that needed Quintana to fill a hole.
Also of note: this was the first time the Sox and Cubs had made a trade with each other since November 2006, when Neal Cotts went to the Cubs for David Aardsma and Carlos Vazquez. Those players weren’t All-Stars. The trade that made waves was back in 1992, when the Cubs traded slugger George Bell — former AL MVP — to the Sox for pitcher Ken Patterson and some guy named Sammy Sosa. His name sounds a little familiar, but maybe that’s just the alliteration. S’s all around.
After 2017: Sox 58, Cubs 54.
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