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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- For the first time this spring, most of the expected Opening Day starting lineup will play on consecutive days. Jason Heyward, Willson Contreras and Jon Jay get today off, but everyone else is in there.
I would expect a huge, Cub-centric crowd at HoHoKam today, likely the biggest crowd they'll have there all year. Some tickets were available this morning, but they are not cheap.
Here are today's particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Schwarber LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist 2B, Russell SS, Heyward RF, Montero C, Szczur DH, Almora CF
Athletics lineup:
Davis CF, Lowrie 2B, Joyce RF, Healy 1B, Plouffe 3B, Alonso DH, Semien SS, Phegley C, Canha LF
Jake Arrieta will start for the Cubs, his second spring start. Other Cubs pitchers scheduled: Rob Zastryzny, Koji Uehara, Justin Grimm and Williams Perez.
Raul Alcantara gets the call for the A’s. Others scheduled: Ross Detwiler, Frankie Montas, Zach Neal, Liam Hendriks and Bobby Wahl.
Today’s game is on 670 The Score with Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer. It’s also on CSN California with the A’s broadcast team and will be available on MLB.tv.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Please visit our SB Nation Athletics site Athletics Nation. If you do go there to interact with A’s 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 Night.
Discuss amongst yourselves.