Cubs' home opener put on hold

The Chicago Cubs will head home to Wrigley Field for their home opener in a divisional battle against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday afternoon.

The Chicago Cubs' home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates has been postponed because of snow. If the Pirates (7-2) are to defy expectations, they'll have to fare better against the Cubs, who have won the division the past two seasons.

Though they aren't playing Monday, Cubs players managed to make the best of their situation as they took to Wrigley's snowy diamond for a little snow-day fun. It was beginning to look a lot more like a December Bears' game rather than the Cubs' home opener in April. This will be the third "home opener" the Pirates have played in. Chatwood allowed one earned run, four hits and six walks in six innings in his first start against Cincinnati while striking out four.

On Tuesday, it will be Tyler Chatwood to start things off for the Cubs club, as first baseman Anthony Rizzo has missed the last three games due to stiffness in his back and wasn't scheduled to start on Monday. He conceded 10 runs in 16.2 innings against the Cubs last season, and he owns a 2-1 record with a 4.09 ERA in 22 career innings against Chicago. The key here will be the pitching matchup and how long each starter lasts.

But the next signs that there would be no baseball came when a group of Cubs players, led by relief pitcher Carl Edwards Jr., started throwing snowballs instead of baseballs.

Maddon also said the postponement does nothing to take away from the special nature of opening day, and he noted the Cubs have played nine games on the road already, going 5-4 and trailing the first-place Pirates by two games. There wasn't quite as much snow on the South Side, and the series against Tampa Bay is the only scheduled trip to Chicago for the Rays, so rescheduling their game would have been more hard.

At least the Pirates are hot.

"Anytime you're dealing with a back, obviously you never know", Maddon said, according to the Sun-Times.