Paul Sullivan: Play-in fever missing for Jerry Reinsdorf's Bulls, while his White Sox rely on a milkshake and a prayer

Making matters worse, the current White Sox team is off to its worst start in their 124-year history and drawing comparisons to the 1962 New York Mets, who went 40-120 to finish with the most losses of any major league team in modern history.

Sox Park has become a morgue, and things are so grim manager Pedro Grifol couldn’t even come up with a valid excuse for sitting Eloy Jiménez, his best available hitter, on the day Jiménez came off the injured list. After rookie Nick Nastrini turned in an impressive outing in his debut, Grifol couldn’t even confirm Nastrini would remain in the rotation.

It’s almost as if the Sox asked Grifol to say the exact opposite of everything fans wanted to hear.

At least Grifol had found a place for Jiménez in Tuesday’s lineup before the game was postponed due to rain. The Sox entered Tuesday hitting a league-worst .196, looking up with envy at the proverbial Mendoza line. They had already been shut out six times, scoring a league-low 34 runs in 16 games. Saving on fireworks was never so easy for Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

Unlike the Bulls, the Sox are the antithesis of a “Dateline” episode. The outcome of a Sox game is usually revealed as soon as the opposing team scores a couple of runs in the first couple of innings. The only suspense remaining is what Ozzie Guillen will say on the postgame show.

The common denominator, of course, is Reinsdorf, who serves as chairman of both teams. Wednesday should be a very busy day for the Chairman, as the Sox take on the Kansas City Royals in a rainout-induced doubleheader on the South Side before the Bulls’ 8:30 p.m. start against the Hawks on the West Side.

Hopefully, Reinsdorf can get a campfire milkshake to go, then stream an episode of “Dateline” in his U.C. office before taking a little nap between games. Just a suggestion.

Reinsdorf has given his son, Michael, carte blanche to run the Bulls while he concentrates on driving Sox fans nuts with an awful team and hints of moving without a new, subsidized ballpark. A chip off the old block, Michael Reinsdorf appears quite comfortable with a team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2015 but still manages to “compete.”

It’s a family tradition like no other. At least Jerry and Michael can be consoled by the fact they haven’t heard any “Sell the team” chants at the United Center, which is usually filled, win or lose. The Bulls finished with the highest average attendance in 2023-24 for the third straight year and the second straight sub-.500 season.

Fortunately for the Reinsdorfs, the Bulls’ fan base consists of a much higher percentage of Cubs fans than Sox fans. That means more disposable income and a greater tolerance for watching mediocrity. And, as the 39-43 record suggests, the Bulls are nothing if not mediocre. Two of Detroit’s 14 wins came against them, which should have immediately disqualified them from any postseason.

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