This has become a bit of a tradition for me— traveling to see the Reds in various places and posting my thoughts and experiences here on RZ. Last year I made it to Coors with my then 9 year old boy and later in summer to KC with the boy and his then 12 year old sister. In previous years we also made it to STL (and his first ever MLB experience was at Kaufman in 2018).
This year, it’s Wrigley. Was hoping to make it one of two trips, but life schedules are making it look like this will be a one-series summer for us. Hoping to “make up for it” by going to 1-2 NFL games with them this fall. But I’ve come to cherish these trips and the time spent with the kids. This trip it’s just me and the boy. Thoughts thus far:
—Arrived in Chicago at 7:30am yesterday. You can imagine how early we had to get up to make that happen. Thankfully, uneventful air travel which is certainly no guarantee these days.
—He’s growing up in suburban OKC so my kids have little to no exposure to public transportation. Riding the EL train or Subway is almost an event in itself. Personally, while cheaper, I am sort of “over” these modes of transport when I travel to bigger cities. Kinda gross, everyone seems bummed out… Mostly willing to pay more for the convenience of Uber. Kinda of splitting that up on this trip.
—Did a bunch of touristy, sightseeing type of things yesterday. Hancock Building, Navy Pier, Ferris Wheel, etc. It’s a beautiful city. We are staying on the Gold Coast right off Lakeshore Drive and this area is fantastic. Weather has been perfect and Lake Michigan might as well be the ocean. It’s pretty and I really like the vibe in this area.
—I know some that have been going for years probably scoff at the commercialization of Wrigleyville but I’ve only been on two trips now and I think it still holds plenty of charm and wonder. Yeah you mix in a McDonalds and some chain stuff around now and I understand the rooftops have all been purchased and packaged, but many of the old taverns are still operating and it’s absolutely a unique neighborhood and atmosphere for pro sports.
—Our seats for Tuesday night weren’t great, but did have an incredible view of the partial sky line and Lake in distance. Sat upper level right around third base. Again can’t beat the weather. Game was interesting. Fast paced pitchers duel turned into a slog-fest. Game went from 100mph to 50mph in a snap. Funny thing is even though the early innings weren’t taking long, it still very much felt like “new school” baseball. I believe it was 17 combined K’s through five innings. Amazing.
—Castillo was great, but wow, talk about doing it the hard way. Sheesh, through 6 he threw over 40 more pitches than Thompson but still somehow outperformed him. Not necessarily easy to watch, but cool to see for sure.
—India’s HR was an absolute bomb— no doubt right off the bat. Seemed like other balls deep last night died a bit, but that one was gone in a hurry.
—I think Bell has earned some deserved criticism this year on various levels, but the current state of the bullpen is just a total roll of dice. I have no idea what to suggest to him inning to inning so therefore I won’t criticize anything he does there. Strickland seemed like the best option for the 9th even though it’s a bad one. Kuhnel almost blew it and Warren sort of got away with a fe hard hit balls. No lead is safe currently though. Again, credit Cubs fans as they got pretty loud there late.
—What I think I’ll always remember about this game was how intense it got in the 6th-9th innings. Two bad teams going nowhere; yet when Cubs had bases loaded in 6th with two outs and Gomes fouled off like 9 pitches from Castillo, the 32,000 were on their feet, loud, and you felt it your gut. My son was SO nervous that at one point he said he needed to use the restroom just so he could walk around and not be as nervous. He knows we are bad. But we look for silver linings. He organizes the helmets on his shelf in order of current overall league standings. He REALLY wants to move the Reds past the Nats, out of last. I also let him know that if we sweep the Cubs, we would pass them as well. He also knows about the “L” and “W” flags here and he really wanted them to fly that L. And he 100% did not want to present for a Cubs walk-off. So while the game means little to the baseball world, last night, it mattered to HIM— and that definitely ratcheted it up for me too. It was fun. I am glad they won; glad we won’t get swept, glad my son got to experience a W in a game that very much could have gone either way right down to the collision on the last out of the game.
—Day started in OKC at 3:30am and he was finally asleep back at the hotel around midnight. It was going to be a good day regardless, but the W makes it sweeter and even more memorable; so that’s kind of what’s on the line when we attend these games.
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. If you are in town for the rest of the series, you might consider renting one of those Divvy bikes and riding up the Lakefront trail and enjoy seeing all the activity along the lake (bikers, runners, beach volleyball, softball games, soccer games, etc.). Find a dock near the Waveland exit on the trail and walk a handful of blocks west to the ballpark.
Originally Posted by dfs
