Maybe it's early, but one can dream
Now that April has leaked into May, it's time for a little October dreaming.
Baseball-style, that is.
The NFL draft has come and gone. So have the Blackhawks surprisingly and the Bulls predictably.
All that remains, at least for a while, is a promising baseball season.
Not only are the Cubs and White Sox leading their respective divisions, both have been at or near the top of their respective leagues since Opening Day.
The Cubs were supposed to be good. The Sox weren't supposed to be but are.
All of which raises myriad questions.
Like, why not?
Why not begin fantasizing about the Sox and Cubs facing each other in the World Series?
Why not envision Game 1 of the Subway Series pitting Chris Sale against Jake Arrieta?
Why not?
Yes, history says that these two teams combined are the longest of longshots after combining for one championship in nearly a century.
As has been thoroughly documented and lamented, the Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908 or even played in one since 1945.
I'm sticking to my shtick: The Cubs won't win anything significant in my lifetime. Blame that prediction on them. Over the decades they conditioned me not to believe in them.
Not that the Sox have been much better. If it weren't for the futility on the North Side and that one shining exception in 2005, the futility on the South Side would be epic.
Just last spring the Cubs wallowed in a rebuild and the Sox were off to their customary stumbling start.
Now, though, did we mention that both the Cubs and Sox are in first place and look like they belong there?
So even I have to ask myself … why not?
Why not imagine that both these teams will wind up in the same World Series?
Why not look forward to the glorious, uproarious event easily making up for Chicago not landing the 2016 Olympics?
Why not figure our Subway Series being New Year's Eve and Mardi Gras wrapped up in one tightly wound package with red seams?
OK, OK, so it's difficult to envision any of that.
The 2005 Sox notwithstanding, baseball prosperity is supposed to happen elsewhere.
But why not here … squared?
Stranger things have happened, haven't they?
Who would have thought that Canada would still have a team in the NBA playoffs but no team in the NHL playoffs?
If Hillary and Donald are favored to meet in the presidential general election, why not the Sox and Cubs in the World Series?
Seriously, why not?
So many reasons come to mind if you allow them to.
This, however, is no time for sarcasm, cynicism or skepticism.
Instead, this is a time to ask … why not?
Why shouldn't a baseball civil war supersede Chicago's gang wars in October?
Isn't it time to see whether the world would come to an end if the Sox and Cubs met in the World Series?
Isn't the local sports calendar primed for some baseball fun and fantasy?
So, yeah … why not?
For now, let's wonder whether the Cubs would wear their silly suits on the Red Line from Wrigleyville to Bridgeport for Game 7.
And whether old-school Reinsdorf or new-school Ricketts would prevail.
May is a good month to believe there's a snowball's chance in Haiti that this can happen.
If it can't, as always there will be plenty of other months to be disappointed.
mimrem@dailyherald.com