The Oakland A's and the Chicago Cubs come into the season with different expectations and the two teams are playing on Tuesday in MLB Spring Training in the Cactus League and the Athletics come in as division winners and the streaming matchup will be online from the MLB.com website for all access to spring games at 3:05 pm ET.
The Athletics are coming in off of another postseason appearance and a division title, while the Cubs have been terrible and are looking to truly start their rebuilding around young players like Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney. The team lost a number of free agents in the offseason and come into the season after ranking 28th in the league in runs last season and 27th in batting average and they will be looking to turn things around under a new manager. The team has not won a World Series in a century and is looking to get back into the mix as a competitive franchise and Theo Epstein is working on building that back up.
The Cubs are coming into the game after a spring win against the Brewers and they next will play against the Colorado Rockies and they come in after ranking ninth in the league in quality starts last season and 21st in ERA. The team has some things to build on, including finishing seventh in opponents' batting average. The team ended up in the bottom of the NL Central and they are looking to avoid that fate again.
The Athletics come into the game after a win against the Dodgers and they play the Brewers and the Cubs on Wednesday in split games and they have another game with the Brewers on Wednesday as well. The A's come in after being fourth in the league last season in slugging percentage and runs and they were eighth in on base percentage and 14th in batting average. The team has been one of the most consistent in baseball the past couple years and they were in the top 10 in ERA, quality starts, WHIP and opponents' batting average against last season. The team is looking to battle the Mariners, Angles and Rangers again in the west as they look for another title.
Check here for the MLB.com live coverage of the Cubs and Athletics.
