Column: Will 2021 be the end of the Chicago Cubs Golden Age? The start of the White Sox Renaissance? Or none of the above?

In the long and storied feud between Chicago Cubs and White Sox fans, perhaps nothing compares with the shot heard ’round the city in spring 1997.

It was the first year of interleague play, and to mark the occasion the Sox’s flagship radio station posted a billboard on a building across from Wrigley Field with a giant message that read: “Major league baseball, 8.1 miles south.”

That, of course, was the estimated distance between Wrigley Field and new Comiskey Park, using Halsted Street as the north-south artery.

The in-your-face ad was a sneak attack that managed to rile up Cubs fans while giving Sox fans reason to smirk about the state of affairs.

The Cubs were coming off an 86-loss season and weren’t expected to compete in the National League Central. The Sox had finished in second place in the American League Central with 85 wins and added free-agent slugger Albert Belle in the offseason to an already potent lineup.

Cubs management could only laugh it off. General manager Ed Lynch pointed to the fact that Wrigley Field was usually full while Sox Park was not.

“The best line I heard about that,” Lynch said, “is if they were looking for a high-traffic area, they picked a good spot.”

The Cubs got off to an 0-14 start, giving Sox fans a good laugh in April. But the Sox finished 80-81, giving Cubs fans the last laugh despite an 68-94 season.

The ad eventually was painted over during the season at the behest of Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who found it amusing but wasn’t one for starting a war of words with the Cubs.

Twenty-four years later, some things have changed.

Both teams ended their championship droughts. The Ricketts family now owns the Cubs. Wrigleyville resembles River North with an influx of new bars, restaurants and a boutique hotel.

But much has remained the same.

The Cubs still outdraw the Sox on an annual basis. The area around Guaranteed Rate Field is a ghost town after Sox games. And neither team’s fan base is particularly fond of the other.

But after promising fans a new era of “sustained success,” the Cubs seemingly are in retreat only five years after their championship season, slicing payroll, trading ace Yu Darvish for low-level prospects and considering dealing other stars who haven’t agreed to long-term extensions.

The Sox, meanwhile, woke up from a decadelong hibernation in 2020 behind a nucleus of young players that ended a 12-year playoff drought and enter 2021 as one of the game’s most envied teams with high hopes for their first title since 2005. And by signing several of those players — including Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert — to long-term, team-friendly deals, their window of opportunity should be open for several years.

Upon first glance, the Cubs and Sox appear to be two franchises passing in the night. If everything goes according to expectation, this finally could be the year the Sox become Chicago’s most popular baseball team.

“I mean on paper, I guess so,” Sox starter Lucas Giolito said. “But at the end of the day we have to go out and prove it. We play the Cubs every year. I know that that’s a very important series to the city of Chicago. We take that very seriously as players. I don’t want to talk too much about it because I think that’s a question that’s going to be best to answer by our play on the field.”

True, the games are not played on paper — or on an iPad to be more precise — and anything can happen.

The Sox are staging their great chemistry experiment, adding 76-year-old manager Tony La Russa to the dugout while subtracting low-key Rick Renteria. A young team that thrives on having fun will now be run by a senior citizen who admitted in spring training he has a reputation for being humorless.

After 11 years away from managing, the onus squarely is on La Russa to conform to the sensibilities of the modern player. Fortunately for him, the early reviews in camp were positive.

“The things he has been preaching have been good,” Anderson said. “I think we got the right man. I hope so.”

Anderson, the bat-flipping, trash-talking, unofficial spokesman of this White Sox Renaissance, insisted he won’t change his style for anyone, including the Hall of Fame manager.

“I ain’t afraid of him,” Anderson said with a laugh. “Tell him that.”

Even without the injured Jimenez, anything less than a World Series appearance would be anathema to Sox fans. With the reigning American League MVP in Jose Abreu, budding superstars in Anderson and Yoan Moncada, a rotation that features Giolito, Dallas Keuchel and free-agent workhorse Lance Lynn, an untouchable new closer in Liam Hendriks and the return of top pitching prospect Michael Kopech in a bullpen role, it should be smooth sailing.

The Sox must live up to the hype or risk being labeled a disappointment. No one said life is fair.

The Cubs, on the other hand, have few expectations outside their own clubhouse. Yet they still have some big names, and a renewed sense of purpose in what they realize could be the final act of this Golden Age of Cubs baseball.

Kyle Hendricks, the ace-in-waiting now that Darvish is gone, said the attitude in camp was much different this spring after a season shortened by COVID-19.

“Just the level of excited-ness, the opportunity we have in front of us,” Hendricks said. “When the game is kind of taken away from you, you start to realize things, like how you really love it, how much you enjoy doing it. Everybody that’s come in here, all these new faces, you see guys that are just hungry, ready to work, ready to get after it, because you never know when this could end.

“That showed up in a lot of guys last year, the sense of urgency. ... It’s a different level of energy for sure.”

For the first time since 2014, the Cubs enter the season with relatively low expectations, even after winning the NL Central in 2020. The benefit of the doubt no longer exists, not after Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez all slumped offensively at the same time, and with a rotation now missing Darvish and Jon Lester, the heart and soul of the clubhouse.

The last time the Cubs won a playoff game was in 2017, a lifetime ago to a fan base spoiled by winning.

“We’ve got to go out and earn it and prove it,” Rizzo said. “I don’t think anyone should believe in it. We haven’t done what we’re capable of doing the last few years. It’s up to us to go out and prove it every day and every year. Just because you do one thing one year doesn’t mean you’re entitled to anything the next year.”

Manager David Ross, in his second year but first 162-game season, said early on he probably will be less patient than he was in 2020, relaying a sense of urgency in getting off to a good start.

“Now that we’ve got 162 (games) I think I can actually put that in place,” he said.

Easier said than done. Ross stuck with the struggling Bryant in the leadoff spot last year until an injury gave him a handy reason to move Bryant down. We’ll see if he’s quicker to make the necessary changes in 2021.

And everyone is well aware that if the Cubs aren’t contending by July, the sell-off of familiar faces figures to begin as the trade deadline looms. Enjoy the stars while they’re still out, because they might be gone before you know it.

Either way, Major League Baseball will be played in Chicago, 8.1 miles apart, almost every day from now until October — and hopefully beyond. And for the first time since 2019, a limited amount of fans will be able to attend games at the start of the season, a refreshing change from the fake crowd noise of 2020.

If you’re coming north on Halsted, take a left at Addison Street to get to Wrigley Field. And if you’re going south on Halsted, hang a left on 35th Street to get to Sox Park.

Masks are mandatory. Shouting remains optional.

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