Maddon 'digging' hot start from crosstown White Sox

Almost a month into the season, the top two teams in baseball reside on opposite sides of Chicago.

Beyond winning percentages, however, the differences between the longtime civic rivals are profound.

The Cubs came into 2016 as presumptive World Series favorites, sporting as deep a roster as anyone in the game and looking to end a 108-year title drought. On the South Side, the White Sox have Chris Sale, but weren't expected to do much with a weaker lineup.

Nevertheless, both teams have reached 15 wins before April 30, which has the entire city - including Cubs manager Joe Maddon - buzzing.

"Digging it," Maddon told reporters Wednesday about the hot White Sox start. "It's so good."

It's been a very long time since both Chicago teams had this hot an April. In 1907, the Cubs - then playing on the city's West Side - started out 16-4, while the White Sox jumped out to a 14-6 run, according to CSN Chicago's Christopher Kamka. This came on the heels of the 1906 World Series, the only all-Chicago Fall Classic in history, which was won by the "Hitless Wonders" White Sox; the Cubs would take home their first of two consecutive titles in October 1907.

Besides 1906, the Cubs and White Sox have made the playoffs in the same year only one other time, in 2008.

Whether the White Sox can hold up their end of the bargain remains to be seen, but the Cubs look poised for another October run. As long as they aren't facing each other - which will happen in late July thanks to interleague play - Maddon sounded as though he'll root for Chicago's other team, with only civic pride in mind.

"If we could both sustain this," he said, "it could make a very interesting summer."