Cubs vs. Royals at Surprise Preview, Wednesday 3/16, 3:05 CT

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- Now we get into the portion of the spring schedule where you'll get to see the Cubs play on TV more often, if you have a MLB.tv subscription (and some, even if you don't).

For the remainder of the spring/exhibition schedule (through April 3 in Anaheim), all the games will be televised somewhere (either via a Cubs TV broadcast, the opponent's TV broadcast, or a national game on ESPN) with just three non-televised exceptions: Saturday 3/19 vs. Cleveland, Tuesday 3/22 vs. Cincinnati and Wednesday 3/30 vs. Colorado. Here is the complete spring broadcast schedule.

So, sit back and enjoy watching the Cubs over the final two weeks of spring training. I'll be watching this game along with all of you, as I'm not attending (two trips in two days to the West Valley is too much!). Today's detailed TV information is below.

Here are the rest of today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Zobrist 2B, Russell SS, Bryant 3B, Montero C, Soler LF, Baez CF, Guzman 1B, Andreoli RF, Lackey P

The Cubs' starting pitcher is in the batting order for the first time this spring.

Royals lineup:

Escobar SS, Moustakas 3B, Cain CF, Hosmer 1B, Morales DH, Perez C, Colon 2B, Orlando RF, Fuentes LF

John Lackey will start for the Cubs. Also scheduled for the Cubs: Manny Parra, Carl Edwards Jr., Jean Machi, Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon.

Chris Young gets the call for the Royals. He'll be followed by Joakim Soria, Luke Hochevar and Brian Duensing.

Today's game is on cubs.com with Mick Gillispie. It's also being televised on CSN Chicago with Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies, their first telecast of the year, and if you are watching in the Chicago market, CSN says the game will be commercial-free. Between innings they'll have features on various Cubs players as well as manager Joe Maddon and GM Jed Hoyer. It's available on MLB.tv (no blackouts) if you have a subscription.

MLB.com Gameday

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

Please visit our SB Nation Royals site Royals Review. If you do go there to interact with Royals fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

Please note that during spring training, Gameday doesn't usually go pitch-by-pitch as it does during the regular season -- usually, it will update after each at-bat.

For spring-training games, we'll have a first-pitch thread at five minutes to game time and one overflow thread, 90 minutes after game time (because I know how you all like overflow threads!). For today, that will be 3 p.m. CT and 4:30 p.m. CT.

These threads will not post individually onto the front page; instead, you can find links to them in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page. There will also be a StoryStream on the front page with all the game thread links, as well as the recap after the game is over. The pitcher boxes and regular-season stats will return on Opening Day.

Discuss amongst yourselves.