See you in October?

Bob Wojcik might have been the only one among 39,573 fans who wore a Bears jersey (vintage Gale Sayers) to U.S. Cellular Field Sunday night as the White Sox and Cubs wrapped up this year's edition of the Cross-town Classic with the Sox winning 5-1.

He also might have offered the most level-headed analysis.

"You know, you're not gonna win it in June and you're not gonna lose it in June," said Wojcik, of Addison.

More Coverage Links See full coverage in Sports Imrem: Home is where the heart, and victories are Maciaszek: 20 years ago today, Sox nearly left town for good Rozner: Reinsdorf calls for unity, Guillen for serenity Slideshows Images from Sunday's sweep

Indeed, the Sox and Cubs closed this year's six-game series against one another as they opened it 10 days ago: With both holding down first place in their respective divisions.

Granted, the pesky "piranhas" of Minnesota are nipping at the Sox' heels, trailing by only a game and a half in the American League Central. The Cubs have only a bit more breathing room on the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.

Bottom line to this year's Cross-town Classic is that teams held serve at home as they took turns sweeping three-game sets. Each now counts 33 victories in a series dating back to interleague play's 1997 debut.

How close was the series this year? The Sox outscored the Cubs 32-31.

Now each team looks forward to the season's second half and, possibly, a return engagement in October -- with more shuttling between 35th Street and Waveland Avenue and, yes, the whole world watching.

With much of the country watching Sunday night, Chicago's teams served up an ESPN-worthy game for their national audience -- at least until Jim Thome's homer broke it open in the 8th inning.

Before then, Cubs skipper Lou Piniella argued his way to a second-inning ejection. Sox surprise slugger Carlos Quentin broke a scoreless tie with his 19th homer. A.J. Pierzynski got hit -- but only by a pitch this time, not by a Cub player's fist. And, lest TV viewers fret about staying up too late, winning pitcher Mark Buehrle worked as he always does -- hurrying his way through seven innings as if he'd left his car running at the curb to burn $4.25 gas.

For Sox fans, Sunday's win means they can show their faces at work today -- dicey if the Cubs had repeated at U.S. Cellular the same dominance they displayed at Wrigley Field last weekend.

"I really want the Sox to win today," said Jenny Bores of Fox Lake before Sunday's game, "'cause otherwise I'm going to get a lot of flak at work tomorrow."

In spite of Wojcik's advice for all fans to relax, some Cubs fans are finding it gut-check time as their team has lost five of its last six.

Even before Sunday's game began, Laurie Domenico of Roselle took a deep breath before assessing the state of her beloved North-Siders.

"I'm a little worried," said Domenico. "About Soriano coming back, and now Scott Eyre's hurt, and it just doesn't seem to be going very well."

But Cubs fan Carl Nelson, of Arlington Heights, was undaunted.

"Worried? Heck no. The Cubs are still good, still in first place. We're not worried about the little Sox team here," said Nelson, who said he expects to see his team in the fall classic come October.

Not surprisingly, Nelson's friend, Sox fan Greg Aicher of Mount Prospect, offered a different scenario.

"The Cubs are setting you up for failure," Aicher promised. "As soon as September and October come around you're gonna be like, 'Oh, my God, the Cubs are in the playoffs,' " and then they're going to choke and lose, and you'll end up crying for another year."

Greg Zalewski, tailgating a few cars away, said that in the end, his Cubs will be there -- competing for their first Series title in 100 years.

"I've been saying that every year since I was 6," said Zalewski, of Wheeling. "One of these years I'll be right."

And, if it their World Series opponent turns out to be the Sox?

"I hope so," said Sox fan Jim Watson of Elk Grove. "That'd be awesome."