On Saturday, the Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners' game at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona, broke the attendance record for spring training with an announced crowd of 16,161.
The previous record for attendance at a spring training game was 16,152 on February 25, 2023. The matchup also played at Sloan Park, featured the Cubs and San Francisco Giants.
Starting pitcher Matthew Boyd, who joined the Cubs during the offseason on a two-year, $29 million contract, allowed four earned runs in 3.2 innings in the 9-8 win. After the game, Boyd told MLB.com that he appreciated the large crowd at the spring training game.
"It was fun to do that today out there with a huge crowd," Boyd told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian on Saturday. "That was exciting. It's kind of cool to have that atmosphere in Spring Training."
The Cubs and Mariners put on an offensive display for the record-setting crowd, including outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who drilled two home runs for the Cubs in the contest.
Crow-Armstrong's grand slam over the center field wall in the bottom of the third inning put Chicago ahead 7-4, a lead they never relinquished.
"You saw the crowd out there," Crow-Armstrong told MLB.com. "That felt like a little bit more than a spring training game."
The Cubs are preparing for the MLB Tokyo Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 18 and 19. In exhibition games at the Tokyo Dome, they'll face Nippon Professional Baseball's Hanshin Tigers on March 15 and the Yomiuri Giants on March 16.
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