CHICAGO — The parking lot across the street from Rate Field was filled with tailgaters a few hours before Saturday’s game between the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.

Fans of both teams were seen sharing beers, brats and unknown substances like it was their last summer blowout.

It was a celebration of baseball on a humid afternoon, and no one seemed to care which side you were on, a departure of some of the heated City Series from the not-so-distant past.

Has it become a kinder, gentler Cubs-Sox rivalry?

Say it ain’t so.

I ventured out to Lot B and spotted a Malört flag flying high at a spot near what once was home plate at old Comiskey Park, where Carlton Fisk practiced his craft and Sox sluggers often aimed to the left-field roof. A group called the Sports Bums had a party in full swing, so I stopped by to check the pulse of Sox fans after the greatest 6-1 stretch in team history.

Not surprisingly, optimism was running high.

“Especially since we came out of the All-Star break, we’ve seen the youth movement making a move, and it’s starting to pay off,” said Tania Farries, while drinking a can of “On Your Feet” beer that included the face of public address announcer Gene Honda on it.

“It’s nice to see offense. We haven’t seen that for a while. Listen, at the beginning of the year I was very optimistic. I said they’d win 60 games. To me they’re just proving me right.”

Sixty wins is a pretty low bar for optimism. But after going 41-121 last year and setting a major league record for losses, it was as much as a die-hard Sox fan could hope for. The Sox entered Saturday’s game at 38-66 after a 6-1 stretch that included Friday’s pounding of the Cubs, and could surpass last year’s win total on this homestand.

Jason James, a podcaster who coordinates the tailgate parties, which he calls “Whiskey at Comiskey,” was a little more reserved about the Sox’s hot streak.

“My heart wants to say it’s sustainable,” James said. “My brain says ‘no.’ But I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts, because this is what we want to see. The last rebuild we saw glimpses, but it was never sustainable. Guys like Eloy (Jiménez) are not even in the league anymore.

“A guy like Colson (Montgomery) comes up, and (Kyle) Teel and (Edgar) Quero come up, and they’re all hitting. Credit to (general manager) Chris Getz for scouting them and making those trades.”

Actually, former general manager Rick Hahn acquired Quero from the Los Angeles Angels in the Lucas Giolito deal, but please, continue …

”We all fell in love with the pizazz of the Rick Hahn deals, and trading for hot prospects,” he said. “But a lot of them got their big deals early without earning it. I don’t think Chris Getz will do the same thing. Hahn did some good things that didn’t pan out, but now we’re seeing results.”

True, it has been a very good week. James said the group was looking forward to the “Ishbia era,” referring to billionaire Justin Ishbia, the future owner whom James assumes will spend more than Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

“When Bryce Harper came out and said he wanted to play here, and the Sox didn’t seriously consider him, that’s the kind of stuff that hurts Sox fans,” James said. “As much as Jerry says he wants to win, just show us. We’re looking forward to someone who will actually spend money and make something happen for Sox fans.”

They might have to wait awhile, since Reinsdorf isn’t selling until at least 2029.

But Rate Field was alive again, and other than next month’s visit from the Savannah Bananas, which is sold out, Sunday’s finale might be the last full house of the Sox’s home season.

Friday’s sellout was only the second of the year, after opening day, and Saturday’s crowd was just as jammed. Obviously the infusion of Cubs fans was a big reason for the capacity crowds, and everyone was well-behaved on Friday with only one arrest, according to ballpark sources.

The teams were tied 75-75 in the all-time series, which arguably has made Cubs-Sox the best of all the interleague rivalries.

“This is a fan series, for the city of Chicago,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Saturday. “It’s the rare game where you get a split camp in the stadium, and that makes the stadium fun, makes the games fun.

“I think the players feed off that energy and emotion. That’s it. I don’t want to make more of it than it is. That energy in the park is really fun for all of us, but nobody is aware that we’re tied.”

But Sox fans are aware that the Cubs are a contender and the Sox are in last place, which makes beating them more fun.

Cubs and Sox players don’t create beefs like in the past, such as when Cubs catcher Michael Barrett punched Sox catcher A.J. Pierzysnki and started the mother of all brawls. At SoxFest a few years ago, a player named Nicky Delmonico said Cubs fans were “annoying” and made a request to Sox fans: “Whenever the Cubs play (in) our home, you all have got to literally give them hell.”

It created a minor stir, but now it’s the only thing Delmonico is remembered for.

At the first Cubs-Sox series in 1997, I was standing by the batting cage when Cubs outfielder Brian McRae and Sox first baseman Frank Thomas got into a heated argument.

“Our fans are the drunkest,” McRae bragged to Thomas. “We’ve got the drunkest fans in baseball.”

“We have the working-class fans here,” Thomas responded.

“Our fans are working,” McRae shot back. “They’re working business deals on cellphones during the games.”

But those days are gone, and now it’s just another series to most players. Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said Saturday that the City Series is still “unique” and gives off a college football vibe, where getting taunted by fans is part of the gig.

“Nothing I haven’t heard before,” Swanson said. “I’ve definitely witnessed a few fights in the stands. I don’t know if I saw any (Friday), which might have been a first. It’s kind of like a college football game. There’s some intensity, some tension. But it’s cool.”

This three-day celebration of baseball ends Sunday at the Rate, and it’s back to normalcy for Cubs and Sox fans, natural frenemies who share a mutual love of partying.

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