MESA, Ariz. — Joe Maddon has been a part of forced and real rivalries, and a year into it sees Cubs-White Sox falling into the latter category.
A standing-room-only crowd of 15,417 showed up to Sloan Park on Saturday for the 2016’s first Crosstown game, even if it came in a laid-back Cactus League setting with the Cubs playing only a handful of regulars. But there were loud cheers for Dexter Fowler’s solo home run off Erik Johnson, and fans successfully urged someone to lob Avisail Garcia’s seventh inning home run back on to the field.
The Cubs won Saturday, 9-2.