Cubs vs. White Sox

Saturday’s Cactus League game between cross-town rivals, the Cubs and the White Sox, was baseball at its best. The home team at the Cubs Hohokam stadium draws sell-out crowds in Mesa, Arizona, as dedicated and diverse as those at Wrigley Field. In the stands you can overhear snowbirds describing the 1,000 RV trailer park where they spend the winter alongside tony fans who scored their tickets to this sold-out game through the concierge at the Biltmore Hotel.

We happened to sit in the bleachers on the third base line, where the crowd was evenly divided between White Sox and Cubs fans, all easily identified by their team sportswear. The White Sox pulled ahead early, but the Cubs tied it up with a sixth inning rally. Despite the team rivalry, the conversation was friendly and everyone joined in tossing a beach ball across the stands, jeering together at the stadium official who popped the ball when it fell into the field.

When the White Sox scored in the ninth inning, the rhetoric heated up. “When the phone rings at 3 am, I want the White Sox to answer the phone,” shouted one vocal fan. “You’ve had your world series, it’s our turn now,” called out another, when the Cubs matched a White Sox run in the bottom of the ninth.

Tie games are often called after the ninth inning in this exhibition league to avoid tiring the pitchers. Knowing this, the crowd chanted in unison, “Let us play,” and were rewarded with a tenth inning. Thrillingly, the White Sox scored three runs in the top of the tenth, which were matched by three in the bottom by the Cubs. When the aptly named Casey McGehee came to bat, the Cubs’ hopes were high for a win, but Casey inevitably struck out.

And then the managers called the game, which ended in an 8–8 tie. “Congratulations,” called one of the Cubs fans who had been a vocal participant in the cross-team exchanges. “Great game,” replied the White Sox fan who had made the “when the phone rings at 3 am” charge. Another said, “Hey, the important thing is that we are all Chicagoans.” He walked out arm-in-arm with a woman in a Cubs cap.

As tired fans shuffled out of the stadium, I couldn’t help thinking of the Democratic primary race, with its Chicago roots. It’s easy to walk out hand-in-hand when you can end in a tie. But my guess is that the crowd would not have been so friendly if the announcer had said that the White Sox team was the official winner because they led the most innings or that the Cubs won because a group of sportswriters in the press box had voted that they were more likely to have a good regular season. Through a combination of two attractive candidates and a system of proportional representation, Democrats now face the political equivalent of those choices. There’s only one guarantee—a lot of people are going to be very unhappy. And it is going to take considerably more effort— including a lot of courage by the losing team—for the Democrats to emerge from their convention in August arm-in-arm. After all, the regular season awaits.

Shirley Sagawa is a partner at sagawa/jospin and is assisting the America Forward coalition with policy development.