SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Here's something that will tell you just how popular the Cubs are.
Attendance at Sloan Park Sunday was a sellout of 15,388. Attendance at the other seven games in the Cactus League Sunday combined was 33,152. Only one of the other games (Diamondbacks/Rockies, involving the local team) drew more than 5,000 (8,052).
So the Cubs alone drew nearly half as many fans as seven other games put together.
Cubs lineup:
Schwarber LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist 2B, Russell SS, Montero DH, Contreras C, Jay CF, Zagunis RF
With the exception of Mark Zagunis in place of Jason Heyward and having a DH, this lineup could be very close to the one we'll see April 2 in St. Louis.
White Sox lineup:
Anderson SS, Cabrera LF, Abreu 1B, Davidson DH, Garcia RF, Saladino 3B, Moncada 2B, Smith C, Engel CF
There's rain in the forecast Monday; hopefully it holds off until late afternoon so they can get this one in.
Brett Anderson starts for the Cubs this afternoon. Others scheduled for the Cubs: Dylan Floro, Jhondaniel Medina, Seth Frankoff and Pierce Johnson.
Lucas Giolito will go for the White Sox. Other White Sox pitchers scheduled: Anthony Swarzak, Dan Jennings, Juan Minaya, Tommy Kahnle, Jace Fry and Brian Clark.
Today’s game is on cubs.com with Len Kasper and Mick Gillispie.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Please visit our SB Nation White Sox site South Side Sox. If you do go there to interact with Sox 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 2 p.m. CT and 3:30 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 Night.
Discuss amongst yourselves.