The Cubs opened the home portion of the 2017 schedule Monday night and there were quite a few changes in and around Wrigley Field. First, outside the ballpark, construction finished on the long-awaited Triangle building and an open plaza area named the Park at Wrigley.
The plaza contains seating areas, beverages, and view of a large video screen. On game days, admission is limited to ticket holders for that day’s contest, so crowd size should be manageable. The triangle building itself, which is outside the plaza, contains a new team store and a Starbucks, in addition to team offices. I must admit, I wasn’t really too excited about this, but, after stopping in prior to Monday’s game, it was a nice place to stop and relax if you’re meeting someone prior to the game or arrive before the gates open. An additional bonus is a new gate providing entry (and exit) from the ballpark.
This new gate should make it much easier for me to get out after games, as it is right off the ramp I come down from the upper deck. Entry should also be a breeze, especially if coming in from the plaza.
Once inside the ballpark, you notice the other big change to the surrounding rooftops:
All of the counters have been set back to zero. I guess the World Series victory really happened.
There were plenty of changes inside the ballpark as well. Chief among them are the new bullpens.
The new bullpens are under the bleachers, with opaque doors blocking the view inside. The old bullpens down the lines have been converted into additional seating. The other big change is the addition of 4 new flag poles in center field, 2 on either side of the old scoreboard.
From left to right, the new banners on the poles represent the 1907 World Series championship, the 1908 World Series championship, the 2016 NL pennant, and the 2016 World Series championship. No word on what happens to the 2016 pennant after this season, as there are no special banners for the teams previous 16 pennants, dating back to 1876.
An up and down week, with 2 below goal days wiped out thanks to one tremendous day. The week got off to a slow start on Sunday, where, for the third week in a row, I failed to reach my daily goal to start the week off. Monday and Tuesday did little to make up the difference, as both days just eked by the 6500 step total. Wednesday turned things around, as a day of work followed up by a 2 hour walk to Starbucks and back gave me my 6th highest total ever, with 18,290 steps. Thursday continued the good times with just over 8000 steps, thanks to a post-work trip to the Glen for dinner with Val. Friday was the second below-goal day of the week. Saturday just surpassed the 6500 step goal thanks to a trip to Guaranteed Rate Field to see Mark Buehrle’s jersey retirement.
