World Series in Chicago

This Saturday, the World Series will begin in Chicago. The Sox are in the World Series. There is a Chicago baseball team in the World Series. It doesn’t sound any less amazing no matter how or how many times I say it. This hasn’t happened since 1959, which means that it has never happened in my entire life. Actually, I’m sure the median age of the world population is less than 46, so it’s pretty safe to say that for the majority of humanity, this is the first time they’ll see a Chicago team in the World Series. It really is unbelievable that it’s been this long. Out of thirty teams, there are two from Chicago. Every year there is a 14 to 1 chance (or 1 out of 15 for the non-gamblers out there) that Chicago will host the fall classic. When I was young, and there were only 24 teams, the odds were even better at 11 to 1. When my father was a kid and there were only 16 teams, the odds were still better at 7 to 1. You’d think after so much bad luck, it’d start to even out. Maybe it has. As a Chicagoan, I’m thrilled to have the World Series in my city. I’m happy for the White Sox and their fans because I know what it’s like to love a team that never wins anything.

Some ask me how I can support the White Sox through all this, seeing as I am a Cub fan and a Cub fan must necessarily hate the Sox. All I can say is that this supposed hatred of the White Sox by Cub fans is a fiction cooked up by people who have no idea what they’re talking about. True Cub fans hate the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets and in even the blackest of hearts there is no hatred left for anyone else. True Cub fans couldn’t care less about the White Sox. It’s the Sox fans who hate the Cubs, not the other way around. So when the Sox are good, like they are now, I am free to support them. Just like you sort of root for a speed-skater at the Olympics. You’ve never rooted for them before, and you don’t really know who they are, but it’d be nice if they won.

UPDATE: I got those odds just totally wrong. Its even worse. Since there's a Chicago team in each league, and all we need is one to make it to the World Series, than it's almost like the odds of rolling at least one "one" in two rolls of a die. The odds of that are 1/6 + 1/6, which is 1/3 or, stated in odds, a 2 to 1 shot. Since the Cubs are in the 16 team NL, their chance is 1/16, while the Sox's chance in the smaller AL is 1/14. That would make the chance of at least one Chicago team making the series at 1/16 + 1/14, which equals 15/112 or odds of nearly 6.5 to 1. Those are pretty good odds, people. Now why has it been so long?