The Cubs starters had the lowest ERA in baseball in 2004. And equally important, their starters had the lowest OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) as well. However, as all Cub fans know all too well, it was relief pitching that failed them. Their relief staff ERA ranked a mediocre 15th out of the 30 teams in baseball last year. The relievers for theirr south-side counterparts, the White Sox, were 19th in ERA.

Both teams made significant changes in the offseason with the Cubs trading Kyle Farnsworth and expecting to use Ryan Dempster as their full-time closer in 2005. The White Sox added Dustin Hermanson and Luis Vizcaino to their bullpen. Taking the top four relief pitchers on their teams for 2005 and projecting their stats to be essentially the same as their 2004 season, we find that the Cubs and Sox move up from 15th and 19th place to 11th and 12th place (using OPS for projected stats). That's significant jumps for both teams. The teams with the biggest projected bullpen improvements for 2005 are:

Team	Ranking in 2004	Projected Ranking in 2005
New York Yankees	21	6
San Francisco Giants	24	9
Minnesota Twins	12	1
Baltimore Orioles	18	8
Seattle Mariners	22	9
Chicago White Sox	19	12
Arizona Diamondbacks	25	18
Oakland A's	14	10
Chicago Cubs	15	11
Milwaukee Brewers	20	16