Winning streaks and losing streaks are a part of Major League Baseball (MLB).
The Chicago White Sox lost to Oakland, 5-1, Monday, Aug. 5 to tie the American League consecutive losses record at 21, set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1988 to start the season. The Major League Baseball record for consecutive defeats is 23 set by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies. If the course continues, and the White Sox lost at home this week to the visiting Minnesota Twins Tuesday and Wednesday, they would tie the Phillies’ less than distinguished record. That would put the White Sox entering a two-game home series with the Chicago Cubs Friday and Saturday at the end of this week. Game times are 7:10 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. and the Saturday game will be the FOX-TV game of the weekend. If the Sox keep the streak it would only add fuel to the fire of Cub fans. That should be more than enough incentive for the Sox, although evidence is the Sox are playing hard. Just falling a little short. Simple. They need a little better hitting, pitching, and defense. The Cubs meanwhile at the end of Monday this week held a won-loss record of 55-60, in last place in the National League Central, however, one-half game behind Cincinnati, and three games behind each Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Each of the four teams in the NL Central trail first-place Milwaukee Brewers, 62-49, .559. The Sox, meanwhile, were 27-88, .235 and 41 1/2 games behind Cleveland, 67-45, .598. No team was above .600. Double ouch for the Sox. They will recover, some day, and hopefully sooner than later.
The Chicago Bears will go for two victories in a row in preseason games at noon Saturday, Aug. 10 against host Buffalo. The Bears’ only preseason home football game will be against Cincinnati, noon, Saturday, Aug. 17. With a little luck some of the Bears’ regular players will play in the next two weeks. Part of the reason none of the starters played in the Hall of Fame victory against Houston, 21-17, is two-fold: to get good looks at the first-year players and to preserve the starters from injury and wear-and-tear. It shows the difficulty and the toll it takes on the players’ bodies.
Both college and high school football seasons will begin Thursday, Aug. 29 with reasons for high anticipation. The University of Illinois will open the season at home with an 8 p.m. game against Eastern Illinois University and has early games with Kansas, Nebraska, Penn State, and Purdue. Northwestern will open at home Saturday, Aug. 31 against Miami, Ohio and play early games against Duke, Maryland, and Big Ten Conference newcomer, Washington. The four new schools from the defunct Pac-10 include Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, and Washington to bring the number of schools in the Big Ten, once known as the Western Conference, to 18 teams. Northern Illinois early games will include Western Illinois University Saturday, Aug. 31 at home in DeKalb, at Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, Buffalo, North Carolina State, UMass, and Bowling Green. Notre Dame will open at Texas A&M at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31 and will play Purdue, Miami, Ohio, Louisville, and Stanford.
High school football is filled with great games. West Aurora High School returns to the Upstate Eight Conference and will play rival East Aurora in week eight in the nine-game schedule, at East, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. Upstate Eight teams are divided into East Division and West Divsion, seven teams each. DuKane Conference is stocked with great teams again.