With seven games in Chicago this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone did something he rarely does.
“I’m using the drawers at the hotel,” he said. “I like that part of it.”
With four games against the White Sox at Rate Field and three against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Yankees are spending the week in the same hotel. They might as well get comfy.
“There’s worse places to be than Chicago in the summer for a week,” Boone said.
That was a popular sentiment in the Yankees’ clubhouse. Shortstop Anthony Volpe said players have been looking forward to the trip since the schedule came out. Even outfielder Spencer Jones, who has been shuttling back and forth between the Yankees and their Triple-A team, has heard others share their excitement for the trip.
“You get to play two good teams in a great city, especially in the summertime,” Jones said. “People know that there’s good energy here, great food. Historic city. The river, the lake. There’s few places in America that I’ve heard are as nice in the summer.”
Longtime Yankees TV voice Michael Kay said Chicago is his second-favorite city in the world, after New York, of course.
“It couldn’t be better to have seven days here,” he said. “It’s a great walking town. Whenever I get an opportunity, I like to walk up and down Michigan Avenue and maybe by the lakeshore. Everything about it: the people, the atmosphere and how they love sports.”
Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler is looking forward to his first visit to Wrigley. He faced the Sox on Wednesday, so he won’t have the pleasure of dealing with the wind and small foul territory in the Friendly Confines.
“I’m not pitching there, so it doesn’t really matter to me,” he said. “I can just sit there and enjoy the series. It’ll be a great experience to go there for the first time and take it all in. It’s a great environment, I heard. Fans are really into it.
“It’s good to be here for a full week. It would’ve been nice having an off day. But it’s convenient. It’s a great place to [do] stuff for a week.”
It’s rare for a major-league team to play consecutive road series in the same city. Technically, it can only happen in Chicago and New York (the Los Angeles Angels, the Dodgers’ nearest rival, play in Anaheim). No one the Sun-Times spoke to in the Yankees’ traveling party has experienced such a convenience.
And that convenience might be as big of a draw as the city itself.
“It is easier because usually you unpack, and you only unpack half of what you’re going to use,” Kay said. “Now you unpack everything; everything’s hung up. It’s like you’re home, and it’s home for seven days. It’s pretty neat.”