Big League Weekend in Las Vegas absent from spring training slate
Major League Baseball released the 2019 spring training schedule Wednesday, almost three months earlier than normal, and Las Vegas’ traditional Big League Weekend wasn’t on the slate.
The Chicago Cubs have been the host team for the past 13 Big League Weekends at Cashman Field. The event, which necessitates split-squad games for the Cubs and an opponent, does not appear on their spring schedule; they have no split-squad games set for March 16-17 and 23-24.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Las Vegas 51s president Don Logan said. “It’s always been added in the past.”
Any announcement likely would come in November. Also, the 51s, who host the event, are in the process of moving from Cashman Field to Las Vegas Ballpark for next season.
“We never usually announce that until after the World Series, and honestly we’re trying to get a sense of will the ballpark be ready in time to do it,” Logan said. “So those two factors, I’ve had conversations with a couple major league teams. We’ve decided on a couple dates, but until we know what’s going on with the stadium, we’re just going to kind of wait and see.”
The first priority is making sure the Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin is ready for minor league opening day, which is scheduled for April 9.
Construction is on track for the stadium to be finished in time, but a Big League Weekend — normally scheduled for mid or late March — means the stadium would need to be complete weeks before that.
More 51s: Follow all of our Las Vegas 51s coverage online at reviewjournal.com/51s and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.