2009 Cubs Schedule Update

The schedule with game times was published in the December issue of Vine Line, which those of you who subscribe (or get it because you are a season ticket holder) should have received in the last few days.

I've updated the BCB tentative schedule with all the available game times; the Cubs website has not yet been updated. Click on the link for all the available game times as of now. All times listed on the BCB schedule are Central time. (As of Saturday morning, these times were not yet listed on the Cubs website.)

Notes:

• The Cubs will have a nighttime season opener, 6:05 Central time, at Houston on April 6. I have adjusted the countdown clock on the right sidebar and the game time on the left sidebar.
• There are 26 night games listed; the Cubs are permitted 30, by city ordinance. The ESPN Sunday night schedule has not yet been set; you can presume that the Cubs will be chosen for at least a couple of home Sunday nights (April 19 and July 12 vs. St. Louis and August 30 vs. New York are possible dates). Teams can appear a maximum of five times a year on ESPN Sunday games (that limit doesn't apply to other ESPN dates).
• There are 26 Saturday dates. Only eight of them currently list game times. Teams can appear eight times on Fox Saturday games; those dates will be chosen later.
• There are two discrepancies between the Vine Line schedule and schedules posted on other teams' websites. The Vine Line schedule says the August 21 date at Los Angeles is "TBD". The Dodgers website says it's at 7:10 PDT (9:10 CDT). And, the Vine Line schedule shows the September 7 game at Pittsburgh as 6:05 CT; the Pirates website says that Labor Day game will be at 12:35 EDT (11:35 am CDT).
• The Cubs have only one of the dreaded night-game-on-the-road-day-game-the-next-day-at-home trips in 2009: a night game at Houston on June 11, and a day game on June 12 vs. the Twins at Wrigley Field. There's also a night game at Colorado (7:35 CT) on August 10 and a home game the next day, but the August 11 home game vs. the Phillies is a night game.

Isn't it nice to hear those summer dates and think about baseball in the cold of late November? I'll continue to update the schedule as I get more times, and hope to confirm the tentative spring training schedule sometime next week.