Daily Herald opinion: Chicago’s game: Cubs, White Sox give us reason to believe this season

The All-Star break is here, and for the first time since 2020, both the Cubs and the White Sox are in the thick of pennant races.

The White Sox sit in a tie for first with Cleveland, while the Cubs trail rival Milwaukee by five games, but lead the National League Wild Card standings.

Before Opening Day in March, we wrote about the very different hopes and dreams for our teams.

The White Sox hoped their young players would continue to improve, that Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami would be a hit and that they would be in the postseason conversation at the trade deadline.

The Cubs dreamed of a division title and a long run in October.

With fewer than 70 games left, both teams have given their fans reason to believe. That’s a rare thing for baseball fans in this town.

The abbreviated 2020 COVID season, without fans in the stadium, was the last time both teams made the playoffs. Both teams were bounced in the Wild Card round.

This year, the fans can truly get behind both teams.

On the South Side, Murakami took the baseball world by storm, hitting 20 home runs before getting injured and missing more than 30 games. His return last weekend and performance in Monday night’s home run derby should boost the Sox in the second half.

He was joined at the All-Star Game by third baseman Miguel Vargas and rookie Tristan Peters.

Second-year shortstop Colson Montgomery is on pace to hit more than 30 home runs, and young starting pitchers Davis Martin and Sean Burke have impressed.

On the North Side, the season has hardly gone according to plan. Starting pitcher Cade Horton’s season lasted all of 7 1/3 innings. The team posted two 10-game winning streaks and a 10-game losing streak in the first half.

After a slow start, All-Star Pete Crow-Armstrong has returned to form, exciting fans with both his bat and glove.

Big free-agent signing Alex Bregman has taken a while to get going, but headed into the All-Star break looking more like the Bregman of old.

The Crosstown Classic was exciting in May with the Sox taking two of three from the Cubs. The series renews Aug. 17-19 at Wrigley Field, and the atmosphere there should feel like a playoff series.

Can the Sox hold off Cleveland? Will the Cubs catch Milwaukee?

There’s a lot of baseball between now and the end of the season, but it certainly looks like we’ll be watching the scoreboard in September, and with any luck, playing baseball on both sides of town in October.