Chicago Cubs President Crane Kenney said yesterday that the team has added two games to the Spring Training slate – the now-familiar exhibition games against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. As they did last year, the Cubs will play twice at Chase Field in Phoenix on April 3 and 4.
The Cubs’ Cactus League slate wraps up on April 1, so they’ll have an off-day before playing the Diamondbacks. One dicey thing? The Cubs’ opening day game was moved from the following Monday to Sunday night, so that it can be ESPN’s Opening Night Game. So the Cubs will play in Phoenix in an exhibition on Saturday before flying to Chicago to open on Sunday night. It’s not ideal, though you can bet there won’t be any Cubs regulars in that Saturday lineup. Even still, the travel aspect could be a minor issue.
In general, though, Kenney said the Cubs were on board to do the Chase games again this year. Joe Maddon was on board, the Cubs get a chance to transition from Spring Training to a big league park before the season begins, and the Cubs also get a split of the revenue from the game.