Pregame Notes: Chicago Cubs to face Mets in Las Vegas, Royals in Arizona

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Coming fresh off a solid, one run victory over the L.A. Dodgers yesterday afternoon at Cubs Park, the Cubs will split up as two squads, taking their annual trip to Las Vegas to face the New York Mets at 3:05 CT, meanwhile squaring off against the Kansas City Royals at the same time in Arizona.

For the Mets contest, the Cubs will send lefty Tsuyoshi Wada to Vegas for the start, looking to settle down a bit this spring after a rough first 3+ innings pitched. Even a good spring most likely won`t be enough for Wada to make the team, given the impending bullpen crunch.

Wada will face 40-year old Bartolo Colon, who has had a rough spring go of it so far, sporting a 6+ ERA. Spring Training stats are meaningless in most cases, so the Mets probably have nothing to worry about.

For the game in Arizona against Kansas City, Jeff Samardzija will take the bump, to be opposed by James Shields, the Royals` ace and a possible free-agent at the end of the year. Mike Olt will start at first base once again to face Shields, but will hopefully be getting in some games at third starting next week.

Don`t forget to tune into WGN at 3:05 CT for today`s Cubs-Mets game, as you won`t want to miss it. (hint, hint: Baez)

Here are the lineups for today`s affair in Sin City:

The Cubs:

And the Mets:

Here are the lineups for today`s game against the Royals (which will be on WGN Radio) The Cubs once again:

And the talented young Royals:

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