A Cubs Victory Capped My LONG Weekend In Las Vegas

I made the trip to Las Vegas for the second year in a row to cover the Cubs as part of MLB's 28th annual Big League Weekend. If you ask anyone that knows me, I'll find ANY excuse to go to Vegas, so when I realized the Cubs played a Spring Training game there each year, it was a no-brainer to take the trip. However, I'd be lying if I didn't say this year's trip had me a tad bit concerned for the following reasons:

• The game would be played on St. Patrick's Day which historically erases people's concept of the proper amount of alcohol they should be consuming.
• March Madness is in full swing and I may or may not enjoy a casino to watch the aforementioned event every now and then.
• My trip included some of my friends who refuse to get back home before 3:00 AM every night.

So when you factor in all of the above, this trip to Vegas had the potential to be really good or really, and I mean, REALLY bad. Hell, I was just trying to survive and get back to Chicago in one piece. I'm happy to report -- I survived. My friends and I got our day started around 9:00 AM Saturday morning with a little St. Patrick's Day celebration at an Irish bar called Hennessey's and just as I suspected, people were already hammered. Hennessey's is located on the world famous Fremont street which if you're unaware, is pretty much a mile long strip of bars with the following: a bunch of people who look like they just consumed a fifth of Malort, live music, street magicians making shit disappear, a good amount of homeless people who have full blown conversations with themselves, and just some really odd-looking individuals. Add to that, people were out celebrating St. Patrick's day so Fremont street was a complete shit show to say the least. My buddies and I had a few breakfast beers at Hennessey's and then decided to head over to another spot around 10:00 AM to grab a bite to eat before we got into the stadium. On our walk, I noticed this dude in front of us who clearly had a little too much fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day. We watched this grown man pinball down the sidewalk much to the dismay of his girlfriend and buddy. Mind you, this is at 10:00 AM. I'm also not quite sure why this grown ass man has on a romper but I'll just leave that alone. After bypassing another grown man on all fours dry-heaving, we walked over from Fremont to Cashman Field to watch the game. I picked up my credential from the media gate and immediately went on to the field to watch the team go through their pre-game stretch routine. One person immediately caught my eye -- Cubs strength coach, Tim Buss. Buss has a history of dressing in some very creative attire to keep the mood light and yesterday was no exception.

Cubs fans arrived right at 2:00 PM when the gates opened and slowly filled Cashman to capacity. The game was a sellout, which made it 22 sellouts over the last 14 years for the Cubs in Las Vegas. At first pitch, the temperature was around 60 degrees, which to Vegas people probably feels like 20 below. Lucky for me, I got to sit in the temperature-controlled media section and enjoy free cookies and eight dollar beers. The Cubs started Jose Quintana who absolutely dominated the Cleveland Indians. The lefty went six innings striking out eight Cleveland batters while not surrendering a run in Chicago’s 11-4 win. Offensively, the Cubs lit up Cleveland starter Ryan Merritt who only lasted three innings because he couldn't keep the ball in the park. The Cubs blasted three home runs off Merritt, highlighted by this Addison Russell shot.

After the game, we enjoyed the the rest of the night by watching March Madness at a casino that shall remain nameless. We somehow managed to make it back home before sunrise but unfortunately I can't share the remaining details because I refuse to break the unwritten rule of "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." The Cubs looked sharp this weekend as they prepare for their 2018 season opener March 29th in Miami. Now that I'm thinking about it, I've always heard Miami is a nice place to travel to cover some baseball.