Cute title, this week, huh? With all due respect to the original and biblical ‘‘Pride goeth before the fall’’ from the Book of Proverbs, my Book of Four Seasons (not the one with Frankie Valli) indicates that summer precedes the fall.
Baseball is made up of four seasons: the spring, which is when it begins; the summer, when most of the season is played; the fall, when the playoffs and World Series are played; and the offseason, when we wait for baseball to resume.
Today’s questions focus on the summer, those miserable days from June 21 to Sept. 22, when hopes went from high to being dashed in Chicago. But you can make up for it by doing well on the quiz today. Good luck.
1. Who had a better won/lost record this summer?
a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same
2. Who hit more home runs this summer?
a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same
3. Who had a better ERA this summer?
a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same
4. Did Sox batters have more strikeouts or did their pitchers strike out more opponents this summer? Or was the number the same?
5. Eloy Jimenez led Chicago with 13 homers this summer. Patrick Wisdom was next with 11. Ian Happ was one of three Chicagoans with 10 (Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn were the other two). Was the Eloy, Patrick and Ian total (that would be 34) more, less or the same as Aaron Judge?
6. Which Sox pitcher suffered the most losses this summer?
a. Johnny Cueto
b. Lance Lynn
c. Lucas Giolito
d. Michael Kopech
e. They all lost the same number
7. Who led Chicago in extra-base hits this
summer?
a. Ian Happ
b. Andrew Vaughn
c. Jose Abreu
d. Nico Hoerner
e. They all had the same number
8. Which team had the most come-from-behind victories (winning a game in which the opponent held the lead at any point) this summer?
a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same
9. OK, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ third
No. 1 hit was ‘‘Walk Like a Man.’’ Rays pitchers walked 184 batters this summer, the fewest in the majors. Sox pitchers walked 245 and Cubs pitchers walked 274. The Yankees drew 325 walks this summer to lead the majors. Which Chicago team walked more frequently?
a. Cubs b. White Sox c. The same
ANSWERS
1. The Cubs went 40-43, and the White Sox went 44-41. The Sox were 12th in the majors and the Cubs 16th.
2. The Cubs out-homered the Sox 84-82.
3. The Cubs’ ERA was 3.58, ninth in the majors; the Sox’ ERA was 3.70, 10th in the majors.
4. Sox batters struck out 677 times and their pitchers recorded 729 whiffs. In case you were wondering (I know you were), Cubs batters struck out 753 times and their pitchers whiffed 708 opponents.
5. Aaron Judge, the star of the summer, slammed 35 homers, one more than Chicago’s top three homer hitters.
6. They all lost six times. For that matter, Mark Leiter Jr. led the Cubs in losses with six, as well.
7. Ian Happ had 35 extra-base hits, Andrew Vaughn 28, Jose Abreu 27 and Nico Hoerner 24.
8. The Cubs had 17 comebacks; the Sox had 20.
9. The Cubs walked 231 times. It wouldn’t have killed the Sox to walk more than 209 times. They were 26th in the majors.
Oh, ‘‘Sherry’’ and ‘‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’’ were the first two No. 1 singles for the Four Seasons.
Hey, don’t worry about what season it is, the quizmaster is not going anywhere. I’ll see you next week.
