By this Wednesday, the Cubs will have played the Colorado Rockies six times in their first 24 games.
And then, barring some sort of miraculous playoff matchup, it's bye-bye Rox until 2012. In fact, by the end of the next road trip -- 31 games into the season -- the Cubs will be done with the Rockies, Diamondbacks and Dodgers for 2011. Worse, all the NL West teams except the Giants will have made their only Wrigley Field visits for 2011 in April.
On what scheduling planet does this make any sense? Granted, this April has been far colder and wetter than even the normal dismal April in Chicago. But still, the MLB schedule was done better when it was made out by that husband-and-wife team of college professors that used to lay it out on their kitchen table.
That said, the Cubs will face the Rockies tonight -- weather permitting, and it may not, given the current forecast. Matt Garza, who lost to the Rockies in Denver on April 15 -- there's another great bit of scheduling, having the Rox play a long homestand in early April -- will face Colorado's Esmil Rogers, who has never faced the Cubs, except in spring training, where he held them to one hit in five innings.
Onward. It starts at 7:05 p.m. CDT and will be seen on CSN Chicago.