Cactus Notes: Goodbye to Fitch, games are around the corner

MESA, Ariz.–Today was the last day at the Cubs’ practice facility, Fitch Park, which means live games are just around the corner. After workouts this afternoon, the players cleaned out their lockers, packed up their gear and dragged everything over to HoHoKam Park.

Although the first official Cactus League game isn’t until Sunday’s opener with the A’s, the Cubs will play the first of two intrasquad games tomorrow at HoHoKam Park starting at 1 p.m. local time. Randy Wells and new acquisition Travis Wood will start the game, which is free and open to the public.

“It’s time to see guys in action and getting real at-bats,” manager Dale Sveum said in his daily press conference. “It’s finally gotten to that point where it’s time to just play baseball … to see them out there against people in other uniforms.”

Sveum stressed that fans shouldn’t read too much into the starting lineups this weekend, as he’s still experimenting with things.

“I’ll probably have different lineups every day, just looking at things,” he said. “Like I told these guys, don’t look into any of the lineups I’m going to be throwing out in the first week or so. I’m just getting the feel of everything.”