There were the standings for the city of Chicago on the first day of September for everybody to see, the White Sox alone in first place in their division, same as the Cubs were in theirs. And the South Siders had a better record, by a game and a half. Since the start of division play in baseball, you know how many times both the White Sox and Cubs finished in first place in the same season? Once, in 2008.

Before division play? It had happened once, before the White Sox and Cubs played each other in the World Series of 1906, which the Sox won in six games.

You know how it has gone the past several years in Chicago since Theo Epstein took over the Cubs. Most of the real action has taken place on the North Side of town, including all the magic of October 2016, when the Cubs ended 108 years of waiting and won another World Series. And we all got so carried away at the time that it was largely forgotten -- except by Sox fans of course -- that it had just been 11 years since the Sox ended 88 years of waiting by winning their own World Series against the Astros.

Now the White Sox are back. In a big way. They didn’t make any big moves at the Trade Deadline because they have been making moves -- and getting younger -- for years, setting themselves up to make a run. Now they are making that run, the way the Padres so clearly are after their own years of waiting to have a contender again, the way the Blue Jays are.

But only one of those teams woke up in first place on the first day of the last month of the regular season. Through Monday night’s comeback win over the Twins, who were 28 games better than the White Sox in the standings last season, Chicago has won 12 out of 14 games. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen the White Sox hit four consecutive home runs against the Cardinals. We saw José Abreu hit six homers in a three-game series against the Cubs. And oh, by the way? Lucas Giolito pitched this season’s only no-hitter, against the Pirates, striking out 13 along the way.

The Dodgers have the sport’s best record, at 26-10. The White Sox were 22-13 on Tuesday morning. So it should have surprised no one who has watched the Sox be as exciting as any team in Major League Baseball this season that they came back from an 0-4 deficit against the Twins at Target Field on Monday night, tying it on Luis Robert's home run in the seventh before Robert, the gifted kid in center, put them ahead for good in the ninth.

"It's what we've been waiting for, man," Giolito said afterward. "It's been a lot of losing baseball the last few years. We knew what we were capable of, and now that we're starting to show it, coming out every single game with confidence, all nine players on the diamond, it's a lot of fun. ... This is the most fun I've ever had playing baseball, not even close."

He’s having fun, they’re all having fun right now. The White Sox are fun. They kept winning on Monday even with Yoán Moncada, one of their best players a year ago and another young star, out of the lineup with a leg injury. Shortstop Tim Anderson, the leadoff man and last year’s American League batting champion, is hitting .330. Robert has 10 home runs. Abreu has 12 homers, 32 RBIs and a .315 batting average.

Giolito has struck out 66 batters in the 48 2/3 innings he’s pitched. He has a 3-2 record and a 3.15 ERA. Dallas Keuchel, who is still just 32 years old, has a 5-2 record and 2.70 ERA. Alex Colomé has seven saves and a 0.68 ERA. James McCann, splitting time at catcher with Yasmani Grandal (signed as a free agent after playing with the Brewers in ’19), is hitting a fast .351.

When the White Sox last made the playoffs, in ’08, they lost a division series to the Rays in four games. The last time they had a winning record was 2012 (85-77), which is also the last time they finished as high as second in the Central. They have been rebuilding under general manager Rick Hahn for a long time.

Not anymore.

Here is what Hahn said when the Trade Deadline passed on Monday:

"We had a lot of conversations, obviously some we were more aggressive than others. In the end, we didn’t want to compromise anything. We’re confident in what this team is capable of doing over the next several months."

And, he could have added, over the next several years, the way things look for his team. The White Sox are back, and so is the South Side, their side of First Place Chicago.

It’s called the Second City.

Not this year.