History will be made Friday night when Wrigley Field hosts its first ever Friday night regular season game. The Cubs and Brewers are opening their three-game weekend series with a 7:05 p.m. CT start time, not the usual 1:20 p.m. CT start time we typically see for Friday games at the Friendly Confines.
Lights were not installed at Wrigley Field until 1988, and since then the city council has banned the team from hosting games Friday and Saturday nights to make sure they don't interfere with other events and businesses in the community. The city council provided a one-time exception for Friday's game due to the team's travel schedule. From John Byrne of the Chicago Tribune:
The Cubs will be coming off a Thursday night game in Pittsburgh when the teams meet on the North Side to start a key series Friday.
The second-place Brewers have Thursday off. That prompted Cubs officials to request an exemption to the Friday night ban so the North Siders wouldn't have to drag themselves out of bed after a late arrival in Chicago to play an afternoon game.
"We appreciate the work that has gone into getting us to this point," Cubs Vice President Mike Lufrano told aldermen at the committee meeting. "This will be the first-ever regular season night game to take place on a Friday night at Wrigley Field."
Most MLB teams play 54 home night games a season. Some more, some less. It varies by season. The Cubs are limited to 47 night events at Wrigley Field a year, and that includes non-baseball events like concerts. The Cubs have been trying for years to get approval for more night games at Wrigley Field, but have had no luck. Friday's game is a one-time exception.
The Cubs currently sit in first place in the NL Central with the Brewers five games back. This weekend's series is a big one. Maybe the biggest series in baseball so far this season. It's a chance to for the Cubbies to bury Milwaukee and build up a nice division lead, and a chance for the Brew Crew to gain ground and make things really interesting over the final three weeks of the regular season.
The Brewers were reportedly upset Friday's game was moved from the afternoon to the evening because they felt the schedule gave them an advantage, and it did. They had an off-day Thursday and would've been fresh and rested for Friday.
I am told Brewers "vigorously objected" to Cubs moving game time next Friday just to allow more rest after night game in Pittsburgh.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) August 31, 2017
The Cubs had a night game Thursday and would've had a quick turnaround Friday. No, the flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago isn't long, but traveling in general and getting in late is no fun.
Jimmy Nelson and John Lackey are the scheduled starting pitchers for the first Friday night game in Wrigley Field history. You can stream the entire series online with fuboTV.
