Joe Maddon and the Cubs Celebrate Leap Day in Mesa

It's no surprise to hear that Joe Maddon planned some fun into his team's workout in Mesa on Leap Day.  The Cubs manager was dressed for the occasion as he pulled up in his van, which he named the "Cal State Fullerton." 

Joe Maddon arriving at Cubs spring training in his van on Leap Day (photo from @MLB Twitter)

For the full details of today's dose of fun, you can read this article from cubs.com.

Speaking of fun, last week the Cubs let loose with a dance circle during practice.  Reliever Justin Grimm got that party started with his smooth moves and pitcher Justin Grimm joined in (see video below).

The Cubs will open Cactus League play on Thursday against the Brewers, where Travis Wood is scheduled to start, followed by Kyle Hendricks.

Pierce Johnson will start the game on Friday's spring home opener against the Angels at Sloan Park.  Trevor Cahill will start Saturday's game against the Reds and Adam Warren will start against the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

In other Cubs news, have you heard that first baseman Anthony Rizzo is taking piano lessons this spring, in the hopes that he can play music with some of his teammates in the future?  I absolutely love how this team really knows how to mix in some fun along with hard work!

Spring Training is in Full Swing for the Cubs, Even in Chicago!

Spring Training has officially started in Mesa for the Cubs and Kyle Schwarber has hit another car in the parking lot with one of his home run bombs, or should we say #Schwarbomb?

Kyle Schwarber lands another BP homer on a parked car on Tuesday (photo from Wally Rzemienski)

Back in Chicago, the Cubs held a pop-up #HitForTix event at Wrigley Square in Millennium Park.  Fans found out about the event through social media posts and showed up to try to hit a homer in order to win a pair of Cubs tickets.  Too bad I had to be at work, otherwise that would've been fun to give it a shot and be around the camaraderie with fellow Cubs fans!

Here's a link to a lucky fan hitting one out to win tickets.  Mother Nature cooperated, as it felt more like an early Spring day in Chicago today as the sun was out and the temps were in the high 40's.

Anyway, enough about the weather.  Fox Sports is the latest media outlet to jump on the Cubs bandwagon, as their article 3 reasons to believe this finally will be the year for the Cubs shows.

Can the Cubs win it all in 2016? (photo by Jon Durr)

What do you think?  Are you a believer that the Cubs will win the World Series this season?  Let's hear your thoughts!  You can also tweet your thoughts to me on Twitter @kcburchell

Guess Which Team is Ranked #1 for Their Starting Rotation in 2016?

That's right, the CUBS!  What?  Yes, you read that correctly.  If anyone had said even just a year ago that the Cubs would be ranked as having the #1 starting rotation, not many people would have believed it, including myself.

The USA today article ranks all 30 MLB teams in terms of their starting rotations.  It's definitely worth a read.

Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta pitching during the NL Wildcard game in 2015 (Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports Images)

As a bonus after reading the article, you can even vote on which team you think will have the best starting rotation in 2016.  (Right now the Mets are in 1st place with 57.57% of the vote, with the Cubs in 2nd place with 15.05%, so us Cubs fans need to get voting!)