A gallery of photos from Cubs 2018 Opening Day at Miami

Last fall, I introduced you to Brian Hennessy, a longtime BCB reader who lives in the Los Angeles area. He wrote this comprehensive guide to avoiding the traffic mess at Dodger Stadium.

Thursday, he avoided said mess by about 2,700 miles, as he attended the Cubs opener at Miami.

The photos above are from Brian, showing all the Cubs fans in attendance at Marlins Park, “about 70 percent,” is what he told me. You likely heard that on the game broadcast — it sounded like a Cubs home game when Ian Happ led off the contest with a home run.

Below are a few more photos from Marlins Park sent to me by BCB reader Zeke, who was also at the game. First, of the roof opening before the game. I can’t remember any previous Cubs game at that park with the roof open, but the Marlins say they’re going to try to play a lot more games this year that way:

The Marlins played just six games with the roof open last season.

That number is expected to double — or even triple — this season, according to team sources.

Marlins CEO Derek Jeter has said he wants more games played with the roof open, weather permitting, of course.

The Marlins intend to play as many games as possible in April and May with the roof open. The Marlins also hope to play open-air games in September.

Here’s the roof as it was opening before game time:

And, the video board at Marlins Park had an addition, showing the number of mound visits remaining for each team:

I assume we’ll see that at other ballparks, including Wrigley Field. And here are more views of all the Cubs fans at Marlins Park: