The Chicago Cubs home Opening Day is commences tomorrow, Friday, April 4 at 1:20 p.m. versus the 7-0 San Diego Padres. The Chicago Cubs opened the regular season ridiculously early on the calendar (March 18), with an absurd and ridiculous two game sweep at the hands of the L.A. Dodgers in Tokyo, Japan.
Then they had five more spring training exhibition games (so do those still count as “preseason” or no?) before re-opening the regular season with four at Arizona and three at Oakland (technically, Sacramento, the Athletics’ temporary home for the next three seasons).
Chicago Cubs Season Starts Off Right
The Cubs come home with a 5-4 record, just a half game behind the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the NL Central. They are now the favorites to win the NL Central division. If you’re looking for betting offers in Nigeria when it comes to baseball, you’ll see the North-siders typically backed at about +100. That’s a decent amount of distance from the team with the next shortest odds, the Milwaukee Brewers, who are usually priced around +350. The Cardinals typically face odds of +500.
One reason for bullish sentiment on the Cubs? (Well, beyond all the hype for second year manager Craig Counsell) Their offense, which scored 35 runs across three games at Raley Field, the home of the Sacramento River Cats, AAA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
Take a look at the view of the Raley Field landscape- it features a strange step pyramid in center and a janky old, yellow bridge in right, with the Sacramento city skyline down the right field line.
The pyramid thing is called the Ziggurat, and it’s not a casino, like you might suspect it to be.
It’s actually a government office building, and it bears a striking resemblance to the golf course pro shop on The Simpsons.
The Springfield golf course pro shop has to look that way because Homer Simpson had a peyote trip, from some hallucinogenic chili peppers, which featured a structure looking just like that.
Also, a ballpark with a view of a yellow bridge and a skyline cityscape behind it? That’s Pittsburgh’s PNC Park! No wonder the Cubs hitters performed so well in Sacramento (which looks like a much lower rent Las Vegas from the view of Raley Field).
The Cubs hitters are used to seeing such a familiar backdrop, as the Pirates are a division rival.
Anyway, here are the Chicago Cubs home opener FYIs
Friday, April 4, Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres, 1:20 p.m.
- Promotion: 2025 Cubs Magnet Schedule for the first 30,000 early arriving fans
- National anthem: John Vincent
- God Bless America: Chicago native and musical artist Alleece Baker
- Pregame: On-field flag presentation with Cubs Season Ticket Holders, USAF C-130 Hercules flyover by the 182nd Airlift Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard, presenting the colors will be the Bravo Company Avengers from the Illinois Army National Guard
- First pitch and seventh-inning stretch: Cubs Hall of Famers
Happy opening day!
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.
