Which Cubs and White Sox made it? Which didn't? We present the Sun-Times' 2026 All-City Team

It’s time for both sides of this great baseball town to come together.

No, not the fans. We know better than to ask for that.

Rather, we mean the Cubs and White Sox themselves, for — a doff of the cap and a drumroll, please — the Sun-Times’ 2026 All-City Team is here.

Beat writers Vinnie Duber (Cubs) and James Fegan (Sox) joined frequent baseball scribe Jeff Agrest and yours truly in selecting a 17-man team: one player at each position in the field, a designated hitter, four starting pitchers, three relievers — one of them designated as closer — and a manager.

Four ironclad rules guided our process:

1. This is a 2026 honor. Reputation doesn’t matter.

2. If it’s too close to call at certain positions, lean into which players we’d rather write into a playoff lineup.

3. All players must appear at their primary positions. No exceptions!

4. OK, fine, Alex Bregman and Miguel Vargas both need to be in there somehow. Besides, if we journalists followed the rules, how would everybody know to hate us?

Leads Chicago starters in ERA, strikeouts, opponent batting average — closest we’ve got to an ace.

Other than the gopher balls — so many gopher balls — lefty has been effective.

Sox were 10-1 over his first 11 starts. Finishing kick has been strong, too. (As for in between, don’t ask.)

Still one guy who — if locked in — can get you to the seventh inning of a playoff game.

Good hitter, even better with men in scoring position. Not an All-Star, but we’ll take him.

Hamstring injury derailed spectacular start. Still, top 10 in AL in homers, walks is big-time.

Sorry, Nico Hoerner, but this was an easy call. Meidroth has simply been the better batsman.

One of the best second halves in baseball, combined with stellar glove work. Tough call, though.

Just too great on “D” — and Colson Montgomery didn’t get on base enough to unseat him.

South Side’s best outfielder — an All-Star, don’t forget — gets bumped over by you-know-who.

But you knew this already. Not bad, Mr. MVP.

His RISP work wasn’t the best, but you take the offensive totals every time.

Sox’ MVP — there’s no debate about that — simply has to be in our lineup.

Quality lefty with multiple impressive scoreless streaks and pinpoint control all second half.

Lefty hangs on to a spot despite a rough September.

The best reliever in town and the only sane choice for this role.

Potentially winning 90 despite one pitching problem after another is nothing to sneeze at.

In the end, we were in unison on all but three positions. Fegan backed Vargas at third base and Will Venable at manager, and I wanted Sam Antonacci in left.

Miguel Vargas reacts after one of his American League-leading 91 runs scored.

Isaac Wasserman/Getty Images

Fegan, on Vargas: Bregman and Vargas are statistically even, so let’s get sentimental. Vargas has been the rock of a Sox offense otherwise defined by streaks. He’s the proof-of-concept of their newfound ability to improve hitters. A universally beloved bilingual glue guy in a loose clubhouse, he’s the team MVP who laughs hard and works harder. Without him, Sox leadership is talking ‘‘meaningful progress,’’ not playoffs.

Greenberg, on Antonacci: His defense is more mosh pit than ballet, but throw him off his spot because of it? Come on, man. He’s always on base, hits in the clutch and plays with his rear end on fire. How do you not love a young cat with a perverse desire to stand in front of 96 mph and get drilled by the pitch? These Sox aren’t these Sox without his signature brand of — how to put it? — Antonacci-ness.

Fegan, on Venable: His in-game moves miss the mark sometimes — inarguable because he ’fesses up to this without prompting. But given how naturally Sox fans and commentators have shifted to second-guessing every move in a division chase, it might surprise some people how well Venable does in American League Manager of the Year voting. The baseball world might see the Sox cracking the playoffs as coaching alchemy and Venable’s constant tinkering as evidence the Sox are — gasp! — following modern trends for once.

Contributing: James Fegan, Vinnie Duber, Jeff Agrest