Chicago baseball got a jolt this past week, and it came with a little Soldier Field backdrop.
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Chase Meidroth were spotted together at the Bears game, with the Cubs star and the White Sox breakout second baseman posing for a pregame photo. Crow-Armstrong, the likely NL MVP for 2026, has become one of the biggest names in the game, while Meidroth has carved out a strong season of his own and has a real shot at both a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.
Crosstown rivals PCA and Chase Meidroth linked up 🤝 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wxSg3X6OMm
- Kalshi Baseball (@KalshiBSB) October 26, 2026
For a city that doesn’t often get to say this, both sides of town are relevant at the same time. The Cubs and White Sox both made the postseason in 2026, making it just the fourth time in MLB history that both Chicago teams reached October in the same year, and the third if you leave out the shortened 2020 season. That kind of overlap has been rare, which is why there’s so much energy around what this stretch could mean for the city.
The funny thing is, this isn’t exactly one of baseball’s most combustible rivalries. Unlike Red Sox-Yankees, the Cubs and White Sox don’t beat up on each other all year long, and they don’t even play in the same league.
Under the current setup, the only way they’d meet in the postseason is in the World Series - something that already happened in 1906. When people talk about White Sox rivals, the Guardians, Twins, Tigers and Royals usually come up first.
The Cubs usually don’t.
Still, seeing players from both teams together off the field carries a different kind of weight. It makes the whole thing feel less like a cold split in a divided city and more like something the fans can actually share. For a White Sox team that has gotten plenty of attention this season inside and outside Chicago, the sight of Meidroth hanging with one of the Cubs’ brightest stars feels like another sign that the city’s baseball profile is rising.
That doesn’t mean the rivalry disappears. It doesn’t mean Sox fans are supposed to start pulling for the Cubs.
But when both teams are good, the whole city feels it. And after years when that hasn’t been the case, this is exactly the kind of crossover moment Chicago baseball needed.
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