This offseason, the Bears traded away quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Cubs are projected to make the playoffs, the Bulls have made the play-in tournament for playoffs, the Red Stars are currently fifth in their division and the Blackhawks have generational talent Connor Bedard and a good chance of landing the number one overall pick. Chicago sports are beginning to return to their prominence.
The one team that has no momentum is the White Sox. They have a current record of 6-24 and they don’t have the talent to build around. They haven’t made any moves to improve their team and are projected to finish last in their division.
This offseason, the Bears made some major improvements to their team. They traded for Los Angeles star wide receiver Keenan Allen. They also signed running back D’Andre Swift, extended superstar cornerback Jaylon Johnson and tight end Gerald Everett. They also had the number one pick in this recent draft and selected Heisman winner Caleb Williams from USC.
They also selected a star wide receiver ninth overall from Washington, Rome Odunze.
The Bears have had quarterback trouble, and they believe that Williams is their guy. He gets to start his career with amazing weapons surrounding him, so he should be able to play at a high level instantly.
The Cubs have made some improvements to push them to a playoff team. They re-signed star center fielder Cody Bellinger, National League MVP in 2019 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. They also signed free agent Houston Astros closing pitcher Hector Neris. The biggest signing they made was Shota Imanaga, the winning pitcher in the World Baseball Classic championship game. This is his rookie year in the MLB since previously he played professional baseball in Japan for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
The Cubs haven’t found an identity since former Cubs stars Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez left. This year, they have a chance to keep up with some of the best teams in the league and could have a very successful season. They hope to repeat a World Series title like they did in 2016.
The Bulls made the play-in tournament and beat the Hawks in the first game. Coby White led the team in points with 42, which is his career-high. They lost to the Miami Heat in the second play-in game to secure the eighth seed in the playoffs. They would’ve played the first seed in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics.
The Red Stars are currently fifth in their division and are led by forward Mallory Swanson, goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, and defender Tatumn Milazzo. Swanson and Naeher were selected to play for the United States women’s national team and are both starters. People believe that Swanson will bring a spark to the team that wasn’t there last year with the team.
The Blackhawks have incredible odds of landing the first overall pick in the 2024 draft, landing them either forward Macklin Celebrini or left-wing Ivan Demidov. Both players could be amazing and would pair well with rookie sensation Bedard.
They are last in their division, with a record of 23-56-6, only above the San Jose Sharks with a record of 19-54-9.
The Chicago Sky had two first-round draft picks in this recent draft. They had the third overall pick and the seventh. With their third, they selected center Kamilla Cardoso from the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball champions, South Carolina. She is 6’7 and averaged 14.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and two assists per game. With their seventh overall pick, they selected the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball champion LSU forward Angel Reese. She averaged 18.6 points per game, 13.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. It will be a very hard frontcourt to get a rebound on.
At the beginning of the school year, Chicago sports looked very mediocre. The improvement in a single year is immense and teams look unrecognizable from their old forms.
