The Chicago Tribune report on the Cubs’ first home game of the 1876 season noted a crowd of around 5,000-6,000 went through “all sorts of troubles to get tickets and seats for Chicago’s opening game of the centennial year.”
But the Cubs lucked out, the report added, as “the weather encouraged the attendance, for a finer day for a game was hardly ever seen.”
The Cubs, then named the White Stockings, wound up with a 6-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the first season of the National League, spurring optimism for local fans and media. That included my predecessor at the Tribune, an unnamed writer who complimented the team’s front office, which then consisted of one man, owner William A. Hulbert.
“It looks as if the Chicago Club management had done it at last — had selected a club to fitly represent this city, and therefore to excel all other clubs in the West, if not in the country,” the story read.
Whether the current Cubs team put together by President Jed Hoyer fitly represents the city is yet to be determined, but 150 years later they’ll open the 2026 season Thursday at Wrigley Field with similar optimism and a forecast that rivals the one for the 1876 home opener, albeit with a chance of storms.
Everything changes in Chicago, but the spirit of opening day remains the same.
It’s traditionally the best time of the year to exude hope, and no one can extinguish that flame until at least the first loss.
Up the road in Milwaukee, the White Sox open their 126th American League season Thursday under the Brewers’ retractable dome, with lower expectations than their North Side peers but growing confidence that their painful rebuild finally has turned the corner.
Last year’s 102-loss season was made tolerable only by the fact it was less aggravating than the major-league record 121-loss campaign of 2024. Sparse crowds on the South Side on some nights made it difficult for players to get properly psyched. It’s harder to play with no noise than 30,000 screaming in your ears.
“You’ve just got to block it out,” left fielder Andrew Benintendi told me in spring training. “The adrenalin isn’t as high sometimes, but you find ways to get yourself up for the game, and at the end of the day you’ve got to play the game to win.”
You could tell the difference in energy when Sox fans did come out, mostly for giveaways or promotions or City Series games. Sox players know they need to bring the same energy every game, but that’s easier said than done when no one is cheering.
“Winning solves everybody’s problems,” Benintendi said. “Obviously it’s a lot more fun to play with a lot of fans in the stands. The Cubs series always seems to be packed, which is fun. Good energy in there. And then we’ve also played games where there’s a couple thousand, so we’ve seen both ends of the spectrum.
“At the end of the day it’s just the product on the field, being competitive.”
The Cubs should have no problem being competitive, but that’s not enough.
Fans fully expect a division title after Hoyer added star third baseman Alex Bregman and brought back most of the same players that lost to the Brewers in the National League Division Series. Young center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who agreed on Wednesday to a six-year, $115 million extension, combines raw talent with a puckish personality that perfectly aligns with a bleacher-bum mentality that was glaringly absent with the since-departed Kyle Tucker.
Last year’s frenzied playoff atmosphere at Wrigley against the San Diego Padres and Brewers reminded the Cubs of how lucky they are to play in a town in which baseball means so much to so many and whetted their appetite for a longer run this October.
“We gave our fans five (home) games, and it was a lot of fun,” manager Craig Counsell said at the Cubs Convention. “To capture the whole thing, it’s another three weeks of baseball, another three long, fun, hard, completely enjoyable weeks, and just think about that and how much more that would provide.
“That’s what you want to do, go through that month and have a blast. I think everyone who experienced it, the players, felt how special it was. Then you sit there and try to describe it, and you (can’t).
“The best way is to be there again, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Photos: What to eat at Chicago Cubs games this season at Wrigley Field
Entering his third season at the helm, Counsell is seemingly more comfortable with the uniqueness of managing the Cubs, from the day games to the prying media to the quirkiness of the ballpark, which can favor hitters one day and pitchers the next.
Over the last three years, Wrigley ranks as the third-best pitchers’ park, according to Statcast’s Park Factor leaderboard, ahead of only San Diego’s Petco Park and Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Their fickle friend, the summer wind, is more unpredictable than ever.
That means the Cubs will need strong pitching to go with their foolproof defense and some speed on offense to scratch out runs on cold-weather days. Hoyer added a solid starter in Edward Cabrera and four new out-getters for the pen, while Bregman essentially replaced Tucker as a big bat near the top of the order.
It’s playoffs-or-bust for the Cubs, with no excuses allowed.
The Sox are counting on the kids such as Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel and starter Shane Smith to take another step forward, and for newly signed Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami to live up to his hype.
In a spring training conversation at Camelback Ranch, general manager Chris Getz agreed that “everyone is very curious about how this is going to translate, and we are as well.”
Murakami didn’t show that power in the Cactus League, hitting one home run in 29 at-bats. But now that the lights are, on we’ll see if he can bring the long ball into games that matter.
At least the Sox honored his request to install bidets in the clubhouse washroom, so there’s that.
“We got him the bidet,” Getz said. “That just speaks to us trying to get him as comfortable as possible.”
The Sox have no pressure on them to make the postseason, and a .500 finish would be something to feel good about after four straight seasons of misery. But a nice start would help, and the division is not particularly strong.
Manager Will Venable, in his second season, received high marks for changing the clubhouse demeanor and providing positivity after the failed Pedro Grifol experiment. But Venable still has to prove he can win the winnable games: The 2025 Sox were 15-36 in one-run games and had a major-league worst 51% save percentage (25-for-49).
Getz signed a closer in Seranthony Domínguez, which should help alleviate that problem. Now they just have to get him the ball in the ninth with a lead.
Rick Renteria guided the last rebuild through tough times before making the postseason in 2020, then was abruptly fired for vague reasons and replaced by Tony LaRussa. Getz said Venable understands “where we need to take it in Year 2” while avoiding any mention of wins and losses.
“Last year he was getting to know the organization more,” Getz said. “He’s got a year of experience, a stronger idea of the players he has and the players that are coming. He certainly doesn’t need to change anything, because he’s established a really strong culture based on the person he is.”
Sox fans are known for their patience, but their patience with Getz is running out.
Still, a new season is here, and it’s time to see whether the offseason decisions by Hoyer and Getz can make a difference in 2026.
Either way, opening day finally has arrived, and a finer time for a game was hardly ever seen.
