Editor’s note: I wrote this before the Sox and Cubs took the field yesterday, but had to wait until Friday morning (today) to publish. Forget what you may have heard or read about re: those two games.

One of our local, suburban papers chose to focus on “five things” fans of each team can look forward to this season. Thankfully, they assigned two writers to contribute, allowing each of their sytles to shine. Too often editors force symmetry in those stories where everything is forced to line up properly. In the cases of the White Sox and Cubs, they might share a common mayor and their fan bases might agree upon tastes outside of baseball, but little else (only a slight exaggeration).

Aside from being 4 miles from ground zero-State and Madison, the two teams couldn’t me in more different places and their fans are in completely different head spaces right now. The Cubs are contending for the World Series and have fewer rookies on the roster as they can’t afford to worry about development at this point. Whereas the Pale Hose are still in rebuild mode and can see who best fits their future plans. Of course, Sox management and the fans have different ideas on where they stand. They’re currently sorting through a plethora of young players with labels rather than actual experience.

The Sox biggest free agent signings were Mune Murakami and Austin Hays. Count me among those who don’t root for the Sox, who wants to see what this cat can do in MLB. I’m not one for curated videos or reports from folks that have never seen him live. Hays, I’ve seen enough of, he’s a nice fourth outfielder on a good team. He won’t embarrass himself or the team, but he won’t make anyone forget Joe Lahoud.

Conversely, the Cubs jumped into the free agent market signing third baseman, Alex Bregman, whose pedigree is similar to last year’s prize, Kyle Tucker. Bregman’s chances are better because he chose the Cubs after a cutesy romance last offseason while Tucker came here via the Cam Smith trade. Remember how his candle burned brightly at first? The Cubs also acquired Edward Cabrera from the Marlins in a big trade. The pressure always seems more intense with trades because teams aren’t just spending money, they are moving commodities which will always be linked.

The guy writing about the Cubs grouped Pete Crow Armstrong with Breggers because of the contract extension and his status as face of the franchise. Despite the big extension, some of his fanboys in the media expressed concern for his second half performance. Everyone agreed that the deal was the right thing to do but didn’t believe he’s ready for HOF enshrinement just yet. That surprised me.

The Sox article penned by the great, Steve Zalusky was more reasoned and maybe because the expectations for the Sox aren’t as high. He also stressed that the giveaways and concessions will always be a draw at The Rate. While I don’t disagree that the Sox do a better job in both departments, I’m surprised at how many Sox fans that I’ve spoken with, don’t worry about the food as much as the media pretends they do. Which isn’t to say that nobody wants to eat crap at the ballpark, but maybe reaching new gustatory heights doesn’t define a good ballpark experience.

Ultimately both fan bases want to see their team win each and every game-especially those they attend. And unless people have changed that much, people will justify the losses rather than admit they’ve fallen short of expectations.