The Cubs host ‘Play for Opening Day’ at Wrigley Field

… a chance for fans to win prizes in advance of the 2025 season.

“Play for Opening Day,” hosted by the Cubs Friday morning at Wrigley Field, was a chance for 100 lucky fans who got winning scratch-off cards in Gallagher Way to step to the plate at the ballpark and take some batting-practice swings.

As you can see above, a number of “targets” were placed on the field, with different prizes given to fans who hit them, including caps and T-shirts. No one left without a prize, though, as everyone who participated got two tickets to a 2025 game at Wrigley Field.

Here’s some of the rest of the scene from Friday at Wrigley:

The target set up below the video board in the bleachers was a special one for fans to try to reach. Anyone who hit a ball to that target would win $1 million, courtesy of Budweiser, the sponsor.

Now, you can see how far up the bleachers that is, only a few rows below the bottom of the video board. That’s probably close to a 400-foot shot — we don’t see home runs hit by actual MLB players up there that often. No one came close, although one fairly large guy, who looked like he might have been a high school or college athlete, did hit a couple of baseballs to the warning track.

After all the fans were done, this reporter had a chance to take a few swings in the batting cage, which began with an introduction from PA announcer Jeremiah Paprocki:

Jeremiah is a great guy and it’s fun to hear your name read by him over the PA [VIDEO].

I did manage to hit one ball into the infield [VIDEO].

A fine time was had by all — myself included — at Wrigley Field this morning. Invited as media, I wasn’t eligible to win any prizes, but just being on the field at Wrigley for a few PB pitches was prize enough for me. The actual Cubs baseball players will take the field there one week from now.

One last note about Friday at the ballpark. Some folks who have gone by Wrigley in the last couple of weeks have noticed a strange letter and number pattern on the scoreboard:

No, it’s not some sort of secret code. Today I learned why this was done. There was some touch-up painting done on the board and the numbers and the numbers were put there so the paint could dry. In fact, by the time I left the ballpark, they’d all been put away:

Cubs vs. Padres at Wrigley Field, exactly seven days from the posting time of this article.

Many thanks to Ariana Moaveni of the Cubs for the opportunity to participate in Play for Opening Day.