I was glad that White Sox fans remained calm after Sunday's 8-6 loss to the Cubs. It would be really silly if people started melting down after an 11-game winning streak, but the Crosstown Series tends to bring out the worst in people on both sides of the rivalry at times. Fortunately, I didn't see very much in the way of overreaction yesterday.

In any case, the Sox won the season series from the Cubs, 4-2. In each of the two three-game sets, the Sox won the first two games, but failed to complete the sweep. It occurred to me that two-out-of-three has been an extremely common result for the Sox when they have played the Cubs through the years. A bit of research proved me correct.

It's pretty hard to sweep the Crosstown Series. Even if one or both of the two teams is bad, both teams bring a lot of intensity to the field in these games. In the 14 years of interleague play, never has one team or the other gone 6-0 in the Crosstown Series. The Cubs went 5-1 in 2007. Every other year it's been 4-2 or 3-3.

All-time, there have been 26 three-game series played between the Sox and Cubs. Only six of the 26 series have been swept. The Cubs have swept four times (1998, 2004, 2007, 2008), while the Sox have swept twice (1999, 2008). Even though the Cubs have more sweeps, the Sox still hold the upper hand. The South Siders are ahead 41-37 all-time. Why? Because they usually take two out of three. The Sox have taken the last five three-game series from the Cubs, four of the five by a 2-1 margin.

Here's the breakdown of the 26 series all-time:

Sox sweep: 2
Sox take two out of three: 15
Cubs take two out of three: 5
Cubs sweep: 4

And here's the year-by-year breakdown:
1997: 2-1 Sox
1998: 3-0 Cubs
1999: 4-2 Sox
2000: 3-3
2001: 4-2 Sox
2002: 3-3
2003: 4-2 Sox
2004: 4-2 Cubs
2005: 3-3
2006: 4-2 Sox
2007: 5-1 Cubs
2008: 3-3
2009: 4-2 Sox
2010: 4-2 Sox
All-time: 41-37 Sox