It’s very early, but thus far, the most extraordinary aspect of the 2018 Chicago baseball season has been the weather. Upon conclusion of their first home stand yesterday, the Chicago Cubs are 8-8, and the fourth place team in the NL Central division. The Chicago White Sox are also in fourth, in the AL Central, but with a much worse record, at 4-11.
Typically, the weather, so the extremely shopworn cliche goes, is what you talk about with someone when you have absolutely nothing else to talk about. It’s the one and only universal. We’re not talking about the weather just because the baseball has been mediocre on the north side of town, and terrible on the south side, though.
We’re talking about it because it has been extraordinarily awful!
There has only been one snowier April in Chicago’s recorded history. That’s it- just one! We’ve had six days of measurable snow this April, while 1910 had seven. The average temperature for the first 18 days of April this month was 36 degrees, compared to 35.2 in 1881. So hey, there’s that!
It feels like we’ve had three or four separate winters already, as just about every time it finally breaks through and gets above 50 degrees for about 36-48 hours, you know exactly what happens- it goes back to high temperatures in the 30s for the next week and a half. It’s like extended cruel and unusual punishment for a brief moment of almost quasi-pleasantness.
It’s an old joke that spring doesn’t actually exist in Chicago, as we’ve seen plenty of March-May winter extended remixes before, but this one has still been excessively abysmal. The snow this week was nothing more but frozen Cubs and White Sox fans tears.
The Cubs had both the home opener and Wednesday night’s rivalry clash with the arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals snowed out. Snow outs, not rain outs have been the major issue. So much so that the Cubs official Twitter account had some fun with it yesterday.
Would you believe us if we said we're playing baseball today?
Game preview: https://t.co/7e1DHYJEJP #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/q5WP7UX5bn
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 19, 2018
Although it’s worth noting the amazing comeback the Cubs had last Saturday, in a game that was played in about as atrocious conditions as one could remember.
Additionally, the White Sox had an entire series at Minnesota snowed out. Both are recapped in this Instagram video by friend of the program Larry Hawley, of WGN-CLTV
Watch below:
All the abominable weather has led to of course, bad attendance and with it @EmptySeatPics, or as some like to call it “attendance shaming,” because this is 2018 and life in 2018 means that any time you say anything that’s not positive about anything anywhere, you are in fact “(insert word here) shaming.” *eyes roll way back into head*
Believe it not though, it could still be worse. History labels 1816 “the year without a summer,” as snow, ice and frost were prevalent in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states June-August. The crop failures brought on by what was literally dubbed “The Little Ice Age,” led to speedier settlement and thus statehood for Illinois…and then we got the Cubs and White Sox baseball clubs!
Seriously though, it will warm…eventually…we hope. And then we can all go to the Cell and get margaritas on the center field party deck. Or enjoy the vastly upgrade The Park at Wrigley, which is exactly what would happen if the Cubs and SodaSopa from “South Park” produced offspring.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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