Chicago baseball report: ‘Sodfather’ helps with makeshift White Sox diamond on The 78 — and Cubs raise ticket prices

A season that began with so much promise for the Cubs is dwindling down with little chance of a playoff payoff, while the White Sox’s march on the all-time record for single-season losses continues.

The Cubs spend the weekend at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies and open a homestand Monday against the Oakland A’s hoping to at least finish the season on a high note. The Sox, with a franchise record 15-game home losing streak, play the same A’s this weekend on the South Side, with 114 losses and 15 games left to try to avoid the magic number of 120.

Every Friday during the regular season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and White Sox. Want more? Sign up for our newsletters .

Build it and they will fund?

There’s been no movement on the proposed new White Sox stadium in the South Loop development known as The 78 , but that hasn’t stopped prospective developers from building a makeshift diamond on the 62-acre lot.

They even enlisted “The Sodfather,” Sox head groundskeeper Roger Bossard, to make it happen.

“As we continue to explore the possibilities of what The 78 could become, we asked renowned White Sox groundskeeper Roger Bossard to construct a temporary baseball diamond to showcase how a baseball field could enhance and fit in with the greater plans for the neighborhood,” a Related Midwest spokesperson said. “With a site this large that’s been sitting vacant for decades, it can be hard to imagine the future 78, so this mock-up is both helpful from a planning standpoint and fun to see with the beautiful city skyline as a backdrop.”

Now all they need is public funding for a new stadium to go around the field, which will be difficult for Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to drum up in the current political climate.

The pop-up field already has hosted neighborhood kids who were invited to play on it but is not ready for any games and has no seating. Related Midwest will host a river tour to the site Monday for a select group that is expected to include some politicos. The media are not invited.

No word on whether Reinsdorf will don a jaunty boat captain’s cap and narrate the tour.

Patrick Wisdom nominated for Roberto Clemente Award

Whenever the Cubs are on the road, Patrick Wisdom is always looking to dedicate some of his free time to helping others.

While Wisdom has become a regional St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital ambassador in Chicago, his efforts to help others doesn’t stop when half the season is spent in other cities. Wisdom volunteers through former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright’s Big League Impact MISSION 3:18 Initiative. There is a contact in each city with a point person in the foundation who provides a list of volunteer options, which can range from visiting a Ronald McDonald House to food pantries and men’s and women’s homeless shelters. Wisdom includes his Cubs teammates, too, by sending a text that includes the day and time to meet in the hotel lobby if anyone else is interested in volunteering.

“When you’re on the road we have a bunch of time, especially in the mornings, and I’ve got an hour and a half to spare for sure, and to see the ripple effect that it has just by showing up and showing face, it means a lot to me to have this platform and use it,” Wisdom said. “Because I think it’s so easy to get lost in the travel and the game and this all this stuff, but you get to go to these cool cities and make an impact.”

For his efforts, Wisdom has been nominated by the Cubs for the Roberto Clemente Award, which is given to a major-league player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.

Wisdom called the nomination humbling.

“When I first started getting involved with the volunteering and the charitable work, I wasn’t looking for recognition or awards or anything like that, I was just doing it out of the goodness of my heart, and seeing the smiles on those people’s faces is priceless,” Wisdom said. “And now to be recognized for it, it’s really cool. I don’t know how to describe it because I wasn’t expecting it.”

Wisdom’s efforts to help others can be traced to August 2018 when he was at Triple A in the Cardinals organization. He met 6-year-old Braxton Fuqua, who was receiving treatment for medulloblastoma, a brain cancer, at St. Jude. Fuqua spent a day with the Redbirds, and Wisdom served as his host at the ballpark, taking him around the clubhouse and on the field for batting practice. Fuqua died in May 2019, and Wisdom can still be seen wearing a yellow wristband with Fuqua’s name on it in his honor.

The experience left a deep impression on Wisdom, whose work with St. Jude and pediatric cancer patients has fueled his desire to help raise funding for research.

“It’s bigger than baseball, what we do out here,” Wisdom said. “So when I got to know him, knowing the fact that he just came from treatment …”

Wisdom trailed off, becoming choked up as he held back tears thinking of Fuqua.

“Just to know the joy he had out on the field, just to provide that, it was pretty cool,” he said.

Number of the week: 4

Left-hander Jordan Wicks’ start began with a nightmare Wednesday. He surrendered four home runs in the first inning to the Dodgers, the first time their franchise accomplished that feat in the opening frame.

Tracking the White Sox’s record-setting losses

Record: 33-114

The Sox are six shy of tying the mark set by the 1962 expansion New York Mets, who went 40-120 in their first season. The 114 losses are a franchise record.

The Sox need to go 10-5 in their final 15 games to avoid drawing even with the record. They have lost 20 consecutive series and have not won consecutive games since a stretch of three straight victories June 27-29.

Week ahead: Cubs

• Friday: at Colorado Rockies, 7:40 p.m. (Marquee)
• Saturday: at Colorado Rockies, 7:10 p.m. (Marquee)
• Sunday: at Colorado Rockies, 2:10 p.m. (Marquee)
• Monday: vs. Oakland A’s, 6:40 p.m. (Marquee)
• Tuesday: vs. Oakland A’s, 6:40 p.m. (Marquee)
• Wednesday: vs. Oakland A’s, 1:20 p.m. (Marquee)
• Thursday: vs. Washington Nationals, 1:20 p.m. (Marquee)

The Cubs on Thursday sent invoices to season ticket holders, featuring a price increase by an average of 3% for the 2025 season.

The season tickets increase range from 1.6% to 6.4% and cover the team’s loss of two home games for when the Cubs play the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo in March to begin the season. One new perk for season ticket holders: They can select up to two gate giveaways in advance of the season. For those with 20-game plans, they can select one item in advance.

Week ahead: White Sox

• Friday: vs. Oakland A’s, 6:40 p.m. (NBCSCH)
• Saturday: vs. Oakland A’s, 6:10 p.m. (NBCSCH)
• Sunday: vs. Oakland A’s, 1:40 p.m. (NBCSCH)
• Monday: at Los Angeles Angels, 8:38 p.m. (NBCSCH)
• Tuesday at Los Angeles Angels, 8:38 p.m. (NBCSCH)
• Wednesday: at Los Angeles Angels, 3:07 p.m. (NBCSCH)
• Thursday: at San Diego Padres, 8:40 p.m. (NBCSCH)

This could be the week the Sox set the record. But time also is running out on the possible return of Yoán Moncada from his rehab stint with Triple-A Charlotte. What would be the point of bringing him up this late in the season as the team is trying to avoid the all-time record for losses and Moncada is not in their plans for 2025?

Don’t ask interim manager Grady Sizemore, who claims to know nothing.

“I don’t know where he’s at in the rehab part right now,” Sizemore said. “I don’t know how far he’s built up. I’m really just focused on the guys that are here. If he does make it back here, that’s just one more bat that can help us out, one more guy that can play on the infield and help us out. If he’s ready and he’s healthy and he wants to come up and we have the spot for him, we’ll make it work.”

Moncada has been out since April with a groin injury. His .282 average in 11 games leads all White Sox hitters, so maybe he wants to sit on his lead.

What we’re reading this morning

• How many more losses do the White Sox need to match the modern-day record?
• Rough night for Cubs lefty Jordan Wicks, who is trying to finish the season strong after missed time
• Column: Jerry Reinsdorf concedes the obvious — it’s a ‘very painful’ season for White Sox fans
• Shota Imanaga rises to moment against countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Cubs’ 6-3 comeback win
• 1st-round pick Hagen Smith looks forward to helping White Sox in the future: ‘Get here and stay here’
• After ‘a complicated season’ for the Cubs offense, how can they avoid such extremes in 2025?
• Column: Closing in on a historic mark for losses, it’s 121 or bust for the White Sox
• ‘He is the real deal’: Anthony Rizzo’s legacy in Chicago extends beyond his Cubs success through his work with Lurie Children’s Hospital
• White Sox are ‘not going to rush into anything’ regarding managerial search, GM Chris Getz says
• Column: Cubs and their fans fete Anthony Rizzo in his return while waiting for Jed Hoyer to build another winner

Quotable

“Every pitcher is going to lose some sleep over some infield hits because technically you win, you made the pitch you needed to make, you got the ground ball you needed to get. It’s just hit too softly or hit in the right spot, but that’s baseball. Next week there’s a good chance I’ll probably have three or four 105-mph lineouts to our shortstop.” — White Sox pitcher Davis Martin after giving up four runs to the Guardians on two infield hits in a 6-4 loss Wednesday