The first time utility man Nicky Lopez played in the Crosstown Classic, it had a different feel than the rivalry he’d experienced as a kid. “When I was younger, it was very hostile and a very big rivalry,” Lopez said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “But everyone gets up for it, so you can see the fans getting into it.” Lopez, the hometown kid, was with the White Sox last year. The franchises were on opposite trajectories – the White Sox rebuilding and the Cubs nursing playoff aspirations. But the pair of games at Wrigley Field were nail-biters. The Cubs needed a walk-off homer from Mike Tauchman, who is now a White Sox but on the injured list, to win the second game. They’d go on to sweep the four-game season series. This weekend, Lopez will be on the opposite side. “You go from last year, where it was kind of tough to go to the ballpark every single day,” Lopez said of the 121-loss Sox, “to now you’re 20 minutes north, and it’s like, ‘Man, I can’t wait to go to the ballpark.’” Considering the way Lopez traversed the rivalry growing up in Naperville, it’s fitting that he’d don both uniforms. “There’s pictures of me with White Sox gear on, there’s pictures of me with Cubs gear on,” he said. “I played Little League on a Cubs team, which was kind of funny, too. So it was definitely split.” Lopez attended Game 2 of the 2005 World Series and watched Scott Podsednik walk it off. But he also went to Sluggers in Wrigleyville for the 2016 World Series. Lopez was a Derek Jeter fan more than anything, he said. He grew up in a family of mostly Cubs fans – his mom, brothers, and especially grandpa, Larry, who would watch the games on TV with the radio tuned in to Pat Hughes and Ron Santo. Lopez’ dad Bob, a 16-inch softball Hall of Famer, had some connections to the White Sox through softball but remained neutral. Many of Lopez’ friends from the neighborhood were White Sox fans, so they’d go to a lot of games on the South Side. “My dream was to play professional baseball,” Lopez said. “And then my dream was to be a big-leaguer. I always said, though, that I wanted to play for a hometown team.” The way it panned out was bittersweet. The partial season Lopez spent with the playoff-bound Braves, was “the most fun [he’s] ever had playing baseball.” That offseason, the Braves traded Lopez to the White Sox, who would set the modern-era loss record, as part of the package for left-hander Aaron Bummer. Lopez enjoyed being close to family. He and his wife, Sydney, launched a 16-inch Softball Charity Classic, partnering with Lopez’ dad to pull off the event. Right-hander Chris Flexen, who is also with the Cubs now, was one of the 10 or so teammates by Lopez’ estimate who attended. Flexen called the experience “pretty special.” In the midst of a demoralizing season, there were bright spots like that event. Lopez and Flexen spoke glowingly about their teammates. And when national media members descended on the team toward the end of the year, many of them wrote about the White Sox’ surprisingly cohesive clubhouse. When asked to pick out the good times, Lopez highlighted off-day activities like renting a boat on Lake Michigan. Flexen pointed to plane rides together, golf outings, ping pong battles in the clubhouse. And on a personal note, Flexen cherished the send-off he got in his last outing of the year, in front of a larger-than-usual weekday crowd. The White Sox tied the loss record in San Diego and then returned to Guaranteed Rate Field for a three-game homestand against the Angels, the last of which Flexen started. “Whenever the other team scored, it would be a standing ovation for them,” Lopez said. “And then whenever we would score, they were booing us. We heard it, we felt it. We noticed it.” Lopez said he understood the reaction. But it was also satisfying to sweep the Angels and put off the inevitable record-setting loss until the next road trip. Now, Lopez is playing in front of a robust and engaged home crowd for a different reason: after a disappointing end to last season, the Cubs’ hot start has their fans believing in them again.