Cubs and Sox lead their leagues!

This summer has been exciting for baseball fans across the city.  Could there be a Windy City World Series?  Get out to the games or your favorite local bar or restaurant and root for the home team!

By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

The trains in this city were packed all weekend. The rooftops were teeming. The lines to the bars were out the door.

And there wasn't an empty seat in Chicago, with all six games sold out at Wrigley Field and U.S. Cellular Field.

For the first time since Sept. 1, 1957, the last three World Series champions were playing in the same town at the same time, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. New York's Yankees, Dodgers and Giants last achieved the feat.

On this weekend, the White Sox (2005) played host to the Boston Red Sox (2007) and the St. Louis Cardinals (2006) visited the Cubs.

This is our version of the Olympics," says Rev. Jesse Jackson, who attended games at each ballpark during the weekend. "This just adds to the drama of World Series fever. If both Chicago teams end up in the World Series, people are going to start thinking something's in the water."

The Cubs have the National League's best record at 70-47, and the White Sox (65-51) are tied with the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central. The Chicago teams haven't been in first place together this late since 2003. Why, it's been 102 years since they were last in the playoffs together, let alone the World Series.

"I can't imagine it," says White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, the second-longest tenured owner behind George Steinbrenner of the Yankees. "That would be mind-boggling. In this city? Oh, boy!"

Three men involved in the craziness of the weekend - each with different perspectives - provide behind-the-scenes looks.

Friday: The manager

Wrigley Field

Cubs 3, Cardinals 2

Attendance: 41,539

U.S. Cellular Field

White Sox 5, Red Sox 3

Attendance: 38,621

Cubs manager Lou Piniella left his downtown Chicago condo feeling at ease. He spent Thursday's off-day on a chartered boat with his family and corporate sponsors, even swimming in Lake Michigan.

But the relaxation ended when he walked into his office at Wrigley Field. Closer Kerry Wood, who has pitched once since July 11 because of a blister on his right hand, woke up with a stiff back. He wasn't able to pitch or even sit in the bullpen as a decoy. Piniella, exasperated, didn't inform the news media during his pregame session, not wanting to tip off Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

"You think I want Tony to know?" Piniella says.

Piniella, who played on Pony League and American Legion teams with La Russa while growing up in Tampa, says La Russa feared their relationship would be strained when Piniella became the Cubs manager in 2007.

"He was really concerned that it would change things," Piniella says. "I told Tony, 'Hey, we'll compete on the field. And when it's over, it's over.' "

They'll talk before games, but there are no dinners together after, recognizing one of them will need to cool off after a loss.

This day, it's La Russa's turn to be upset. Everything Piniella does works like a charm. He drops Jim Edmonds two spots in the lineup, and Edmonds hits two home runs. He uses a pinch-runner in the ninth for catcher Geovany Soto, and it's his replacement, Henry Blanco, who hits a bases-loaded, game-winning single in the 11th inning.

"I enjoy these type of games," Piniella says, sitting behind his desk with a cold beer, "although it would be a whole lot more fun sitting in the stands having a beer.

"When you win games like these, you forget about it as soon as you leave. It's the losses that stay with you. You wonder what you could have done differently."

Piniella has done little wrong this season. With Friday's victory, the Cubs moved to 24 games above .500 for the first time since 1989. He says he plans on retiring after next season, but if the Cubs win their first World Series since 1908, the fans might never let him leave.

"This job is a lot more demanding than I thought it would be," Piniella says. "And since the Cubs haven't won in a while, it adds to the importance of the situation."

Piniella shrugs and scoffs at the 100-year drought. Just as he doesn't understand the Cubs-White Sox rivalry. He says he roots for the White Sox. He gets a kick out of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's rants. And he considers Reinsdorf a good friend.

Furthermore, Piniella says he has had to adjust to the lifestyle of Chicago. There were 51 day games scheduled at Wrigley this season, and when friends and family are in town, no one wants to sleep.

"Everybody wants to come here because it's such a fun city, and when they do, everyone wants to go out," says Piniella, who will turn 65 on Aug. 28. "Hey, I've still got to go to work in the morning. It would be OK if I was 42 or 43, or even 50, but come on."

Piniella laughs, puts on a pair of jeans and leaves for dinner with his family at Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse. Oh yeah, he says, he'll be wearing the same jeans Saturday.

"I never change my jeans when we win," Piniella says, "but I will change my underwear."

Saturday: The player

Wrigley Field

Cardinals 12, Cubs 3

Attendance: 41,436

U.S. Cellular Field

Red Sox 6, White Sox 2

Attendance: 39,243

Twenty-four hours earlier, Edmonds was the Cubs' hero, attracting a swarm of reporters after hitting two home runs against his former teammates.

This day, no one wants to talk to him after he goes 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Cubs' loss.

"It's just one of those days," Edmonds says. "I didn't change anything from yesterday, but they made good pitches and I didn't see the ball too good.

"In my last at-bat, I turned to (Cardinals catcher) Yadier Molina and said, 'I'm not seeing the ball too good.' He says, 'One good day for you, one good day for me. We're even.' "

Edmonds laughs softly. Life is good for a guy who was unemployed in mid-May, released by the San Diego Padres, but is now a key contributor for a pennant contender.

"I told (Cubs GM) Jim Hendry I still had something left in the tank," says Edmonds, 38. "And my agent told him, 'Look, if you don't like what you see in a couple of weeks, release him.' "

The Cubs were patient, and Edmonds, with 14 home runs and 38 RBI in 57 games, has rewarded them, returning to the form that made him an elite slugger with the Cardinals from 2000 to 2007.

St. Louis, which traded Edmonds in December to San Diego after eight seasons and 241 home runs, helplessly watched him hit two home runs Friday.

He flipped his bat toward the Cardinals dugout after his second homer. Even though he and La Russa have sparred in the news media since parting ways, Edmonds says it was nothing personal and that the flip was the result of too much pine tar.

It's certainly nothing against the Cardinals. He still has friends on the team and went out with second baseman Adam Kennedy and a few other players during the trip. He says he hopes to catch up with his crosstown counterpart, new White Sox center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., for dinner, too.

"Who would have thought we'd both end up in Chicago?" Edmonds says. "This has exceeded all of my expectations. To play in not only one of the greatest baseball cities (St. Louis) in the country but two is a dream come true."

Besides, Edmonds says, the Cardinals did him a favor. It became too difficult for him to hit home runs at the new Busch Stadium. And the dimensions at Petco Park in San Diego were too large for him to do damage.

"I'm not 28 years old and benching 340 pounds anymore," Edmonds says. "I'm 38 and I've had four shoulder surgeries. I just can't play in big ballparks anymore. Believe me, I'm glad I'm here, even on days like this."

Sunday: The owner

Wrigley Field

Cardinals at Cubs

Attendance: Late

U.S. Cellular Field

White Sox 6, Red Sox 5

Attendance: 39,008

Jerry Reinsdorf is sitting in the stands before the gates open, enjoying a cigar.

Catcher A.J. Pierzynski is shouting at him from the batting cage. He says he needs to talk to him. Who knows what this could be about? The last time they talked, Pierzynski asked permission to dye his hair platinum blond.

"I told him, 'Hey, if you want to look ridiculous, go ahead,' " Reinsdorf says. "My mother used to tell me, 'It's OK to grow old, but not grow up. We've got a lot of children on our team.' "

It turns out Pierzynski is simply inquiring about the Chicago Bulls, of which Reinsdorf is also the chairman. But Reinsdorf, 72, couldn't care less about the Bulls right now.

This is baseball season. He might have won six NBA titles with the Bulls and Michael Jordan, but the 2005 World Series championship is his most cherished trophy.

"This the greatest game there is," says Reinsdorf, who grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and has two chairs from Ebbets Field in his office along with an autographed jersey from Sandy Koufax. "Here's my test: Ask anyone what was the first baseball game they attended, who they went with and who was playing. Now ask the same question about their first football or basketball game.

"Come on, do you ever sit around talking football or basketball trivia?"

Reinsdorf, whose 2005 team went wire-to-wire, is restless.

Starter Jose Contreras ruptured his Achilles' tendon Friday and is out for the season - "That's a huge loss," he says.

The Twins are winning again - "They're incredible, absolutely incredible."

And the White Sox, playing the third of four-game series against the defending champion Red Sox, are trailing 3-0 in the second inning.

"This game has disaster written all over it," Reinsdorf says. When the team takes a 5-3 lead an inning later, he is still cautious. "Hey, this game is far from over."

Reinsdorf can't predict the White Sox's fate but, like everyone else in Chicago, is convinced that the Cubs will be in the postseason.

"The only bad thing is if we played in the World Series and lost to the Cubs, our fans would be so upset," Reinsdorf says.

"If it meant getting to the World Series and losing to the Cubs, and not getting there at all, I think they'd prefer for us not go get there.

"It's just the way it is in this city."

Reinsdorf isn't too thrilled with the notion of facing the Cardinals in the World Series, either. La Russa is one of his best friends.

This is one of the rare times the Cardinals are in town and they haven't gotten together for dinner. The two are so close that La Russa plans to fly to New York on Sept. 15, an off-day, just to spend the day with Reinsdorf and watch the White Sox play one last time at Yankee Stadium.

"Tony's like a brother," Reinsdorf says. "My greatest regret was firing Tony (in 1986). The GM just didn't want him. Looking back, I should have fired the GM. Now he's our broadcaster (Ken Harrelson)."

Reinsdorf laughs and takes another puff of his cigar. He realizes the landscape in Chicago soon will change with the Cubs for sale. He doesn't plan to keep the White Sox forever and would prefer the team be sold when he no longer has the energy, instead turning the Bulls over to his sons.

"Less headaches, and a whole lot less media scrutiny," Reinsdorf says.

Still, Reinsdorf says, there's nothing more rewarding than baseball.

He was emotional this past year when Hall of Famer Stan Musial played Happy Birthday to him on a harmonica.

And his proudest possession is the baseball presented to him by first baseman Paul Konerko from the last out of the 2005 World Series.

"You could have gone to any cemetery in the city," Reinsdorf says, "and you would have seen graves decorated with White Sox colors. The impact on the city was incredible. I'll run into people in shopping centers, at plays, everywhere, who are still thanking me.

"I know if we don't win another one, at least we've won one.

"But I'd sure like to win another. It won't be the same as the first one, but when you win the first one, it makes you hungry for another."

Besides, the Cubs can wait.

They've gone this long, Reinsdorf says, what's another year?