It's been raining much of the morning in the Phoenix area; the rain is supposed to end by midday and thus, today's game should be played, although in coolish (mid to upper 60s, compared to low 80s yesterday) conditions and mostly cloudy skies. The sun and the 70s and 80s are supposed to return tomorrow.
Presuming the rain does end, you've got a treat today. MLB Network is picking up the FSN Kansas City feed of today's game and sending it out to everyone nationally -- no blackouts. Hopefully, this is the first step toward real blackout lifting.
Smart move, MLB. Keep it up.
Ryan Dempster will make his fourth spring start today; he will face the Royals' Luke Hochevar. You'll also see Royals relievers John Parrish, Roman Colon and Josh Rupe.
Lineup, which includes Aramis Ramirez's return to action (as DH), via tweet from Carrie:
SS Theriot, RF Colvin, 1B Lee, DH Ramirez, CF Byrd, LF Soriano, 2B Fontenot, C Hill, 3B Tracy
As noted above, today's game is on the MLB Network -- no blackouts -- via FSN Kansas City. It's also on MLB Audio via MLB.com announcers and the Royals flagship KCSP. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today. According to Carrie Muskat's blog, you can listen to the next three games free via MLB Audio:
Fans can listen to live streaming play-by-play of the next three Cubs' Spring Training games through Thursday, free of charge, via cubs.com. Mick Gillespie, voice of the Double-A Tennessee Smokies, will call the action, including Tuesday's game against the Royals in Surprise (3:05 p.m. CT).
To access the webcast, fans need to visit cubs.com and select "Listen to Gameday Audio" from the "Audio and Video" link at the top of the page.
As usual, the first pitch thread will post at 3 pm CDT, and the overflow thread at 4:15 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.