The Chicago Cubs recently revealed their spring training television schedule on the Marquee Sports Network. For fans that love spring training baseball, there is good news.
The Cubs will broadcast 14 games from Arizona against Major League teams. In addition, the Cubs will broadcast two games against NPB teams and a single game against prospects from the Los Angeles Angels.
The first game broadcast will be against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Feb. 21.
When the Cubs head to Tokyo for the Japan Series against the Dodgers, they will play two exhibition games. On March 14, Chicago will play the Hanshin Tigers. On March 16, they’ll play the Yomiuri Giants.
In between, Marquee will broadcast a game with the Angels prospects on March 15. That is Chicago’s spring breakout game, which will feature many of the Cubs’ top prospects.
The Cubs’ last two spring training games will be broadcast on March 24 and 25 as Atlanta visits the Cubs’ spring training facility on its way to its season opener on the west coast.
Cubs pitchers and catchers will report on Sunday, while position players will report on Friday.
The Cubs are reporting to spring training earlier than usual because they will open the regular season in Tokyo against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 18-19.
The Cubs start their spring training schedule on Feb. 20 against the Dodgers. After the Dodgers series in Tokyo, the Cubs continue the regular season at Arizona on March 27. The Cubs host San Diego to open the home schedule on April 4.
The Cubs’ rotation looks relatively the same as a year ago, with Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga at the top. The Cubs also return Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks and Ben Brown. Chicago signed Matthew Boyd to a free-agent contract and brought in Colin Rea, who used to pitch for the Cubs’ rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers.
Chicago executed three big trades. First, the Cubs traded three players for slugger Kyle Tucker to fill right field. The Cubs later went back to the Astros to acquire closer Ryan Pressly.
The Cubs traded outfielder Cody Bellinger to the Yankees for reliver Cody Poteet.
With Bellinger gone, the center field job now belongs to Pete Crow-Armstrong, already considered one of the best young defensive players in the game.
