Legendary Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks earned much admiration by saying, “It’s a great day for a ball game. Let’s play two!”

Banks’ pure love of the game manifested itself in everything he did. He didn’t consider baseball to be work. He considered it life.

The same could be said for Chicago. The metropolitan area of 9.56 million people may go by a lot of nicknames — Chicagoland, the Windy City, Second City, Chi-Town, City of the Big Shoulders — but one thing virtually everyone agrees upon is that Chicago is a city that’s alive.

From diehard Cubs fans who have waited 106 years since the team last celebrated a World Series championship, to a thriving business community that produces a high-tech startup every 24 hours, Chicago breathes with an energy that is unique to the Midwest capital on the banks of Lake Michigan.

Whether it’s Mike Ditka staring down opponents with his resolute scowl on the sidelines of Bears’ games in the 1980s, or Gogo setting up its in-flight Internet service headquarters in new digs downtown, Chicago is always on the move and being talked about.

Add Site Selection to the growing list of media talking about Chicago. By securing more corporate facility investment projects than any other metro area in the U.S. last year, Chicago took home the trophy as the Top Metro in America.

With 373 facility deals, Illinois’ largest city easily outdistanced its closest competition — second-place Houston with 255 projects and third-place Dallas-Fort Worth with 178. Atlanta (164) and Detroit (129) rounded out the top five.

Jeff Malehorn, president and CEO of World Business Chicago, says it is easy to see why the Second City perennially finishes first in Site Selection’s facilities race. Chicago connects people, he says.

“Four primary factors explain Chicago’s success, and they all deal with connectivity,” Malehorn says. “We have a highly engaged business community, a very pro-business mayor, unmatched access to domestic and global markets, and an incredible talent pool.”

Malehorn notes that “there is an expectation that when you are a leader in Chicago, you will select a community cause and back it. This is a purpose-driven business community. Secondly, we have a very pro-business mayor in Rahm Emanuel. He makes sure that Chicago is a welcoming city. He calls CEOs regularly and invites them to come here. He has been instrumental in helping us with our sales and opening the doors of CEOs. He is well connected globally. He recently signed a gateway agreement with eight Chinese cities.”