Wrigley Field Game Day Guide
Chicago Cubs · Chicago, IL
Know Before You Go
- Bag policy
Backpacks, including clear backpacks, are not allowed. Other bags must be smaller than 16 x 16 x 8 inches and are inspected at entry.
Hard-sided coolers are prohibited regardless of size. Medical bags and diaper bags accompanying young children are exceptions.
- Bag storage
Wrigley Field does not provide storage for prohibited items, large bags, or luggage.
- Gate opening
Gates open 90 minutes before first pitch for most games and two hours before Opening Day, Saturday games, and special occasions unless announced otherwise.
- Mobile tickets
Cubs tickets are mobile-only through the MLB Ballpark app and are scanned at self-service ticket pedestals.
- Re-entry
General exit and re-entry is not allowed after a ticket is scanned.
Ticket holders may use the Gallagher Way Gate to access Gallagher Way beginning during the first inning; re-entry there closes at the bottom of the eighth inning. Alcohol may not be carried between Gallagher Way and Wrigley Field.
- Prohibited items
The Cubs prohibit backpacks, bags over 16 x 16 x 8 inches, alcohol, aerosol sprays, air horns, drones, laser pointers, large or metal-tip umbrellas, and other listed items.
Rules may differ for concerts and other non-baseball events; review the full official list before leaving home.
- First aid
First Aid is behind home plate on the main concourse, with a physician, registered nurse, and emergency medical technicians on duty for games.
Automated external defibrillators are located throughout the ballpark.
- Nursing and lactation
Private nursing space is available in the Mamava Pod just inside Gallagher Way Gate and in the dedicated nursing room within First Aid behind home plate.
The Mamava Pod is available from gate opening through the end of the game.
- Family restrooms
Single-occupancy restrooms are available around the main concourse, Southwest Airlines Deck, and Budweiser Bleachers; most restrooms have baby-changing stations.
- Tickets for children
Children age 2 and younger may attend a regular-season Cubs game without a ticket when seated on a parent or guardian's lap.
- Guest services
Fan Services booths are behind home plate on the main concourse and by the Budweiser Bleacher Gate.
For in-game help, text 773-839-0282 with the word Friendly, your location, and the concern. The MLB Ballpark app also includes an Ask Fan Services tool.
- Service animals
Task-trained service animals recognized by federal law are welcome; pets and emotional-support animals are not.
A service animal needing a relief area may exit and re-enter through Gallagher Way Gate.
Game Day Timeline
What the day looks like at Wrigley Field, hour by hour.
Arrive in Wrigleyville
Take the Red Line to Addison and walk into the Wrigleyville scene. Clark Street is already buzzing with fans, bars are filling up, and the energy is building.
Pregame on Clark Street
Murphy's Bleachers, Sluggers, and the bars along Clark and Addison are packed. Grab a beer, a Chicago dog, and soak in the atmosphere.
Enter Wrigley Field
Walk through the gates and into baseball history. The intimate confines, the ivy, the manually operated scoreboard. It all hits different in person.
Watch batting practice
Stand in the bleachers and try to catch a BP home run over the ivy-covered walls. Waveland Avenue behind the left field bleachers is famous for fly ball chasers.
Find your seat
Settle into the old-school wooden seats (being replaced with modern seats in some sections) and watch the grounds crew prep the diamond.
Play ball
Nine innings at Wrigley, wind blowing out to the lake means a hitter's day; wind blowing in means a pitcher's duel. The wind changes everything at Wrigley.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The entire ballpark sings 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game', a tradition since Harry Caray. A celebrity guest conductor leads from the broadcast booth.
Wrigleyville after dark
The bars on Clark Street stay packed after the game. Murphy's Bleachers, Sluggers, and The Cubby Bear are the post-game standards.
Tips & Fan Reports
Definitely take the Wrigley Field tour if available. The tour guides are knowledgeable and show you some cool stuff including the visitors clubhouse. Cubs parking lots do not allow tailgating unfortunately.
Take the Red Line, the Addison stop is literally one block from Wrigley. Driving in Wrigleyville is a nightmare on game days.
The bleachers are the most fun section - rowdy, social, and right next to the ivy. Bring sunscreen, there's zero shade.
Day games at Wrigley are the iconic experience. If you can pick your game, choose an afternoon start.
Murphy's Bleachers (across Sheffield Ave) is the classic pregame bar. Get there early on weekend games.
Hard-sided coolers are refused at any size; soft-sided ones under the limit are fine.
The free remote lot moved to 4650 N. Clarendon Ave this season, with a free shuttle for night and weekend games.
Gates are 90 minutes out on a normal day but two hours for Opening Day and Saturdays.
No backpack, even a clear one. That is the rule most likely to turn you away at the gate, and a soft-sided bag under 16x16x8 is the workaround.
Before the Game
Wrigley Field has no parking lots of its own to tailgate in. It was built into the Lakeview neighbourhood on Chicago's North Side, the part now known as Wrigleyville, and the pregame is the streets around it. Gates open 90 minutes before first pitch for most games, or two hours for Opening Day, Saturdays and special occasions. The bag rule is more generous than most modern parks but has one hard edge: no backpacks at all, including clear ones, and no hard-sided coolers of any size. Anything else under 16 by 16 by 8 inches is fine. New this season, the free remote lot has moved to 4650 N. Clarendon Avenue, with a free shuttle for night and weekend games.
Where to Go Before the Game
Wrigleyville, in Lakeview
The neighbourhood the ballpark was built into on Chicago's North Side. With no stadium lots, the streets around the park are the pregame.
Known for Surrounds the ballpark · Chicago's North Side · No stadium lots
Gallagher Way
The Cubs' own entertainment plaza beside the ballpark, the club-operated pregame space rather than a parking bay.
Known for Club-operated plaza · Beside the ballpark
The remote lot at 4650 N. Clarendon Avenue
Free remote parking for night and weekend games, relocated here this season, with a free shuttle running to and from the ballpark.
Known for Free parking · Free shuttle · Night and weekend games
Pregame Rules
What Wrigley Field allows before the game, and what it does not.
- Gates open 90 minutes prior to first pitch for most games, and two hours before first pitch for Opening Day, Saturday games and special occasions.
- Backpacks, including clear backpacks, and hard-sided coolers of any size, are not permitted.
- Bags larger than 16 x 16 x 8 inches are not permitted. Wallets, purses, drawstring bags, fanny packs, lunch bags, briefcases and soft-sided coolers under that size are permitted.
- Exceptions are made for medical bags and for diaper bags accompanying guests with young children. All bags are subject to inspection.
- Free remote parking is available for night and weekend games at 4650 N. Clarendon Ave., with a free shuttle to and from Wrigley Field.
- Wrigley Field has no stadium parking lots of its own, and publishes no tailgating policy.
Weather
Wrigley Field is open air, so these are the conditions you sit in.
Across the MLB season the warmest month is July, with an average high of 85°F, and the coldest is April, when the average low is 41°F. May is the wettest month at 4.1 inches and September the driest at 2.8 inches.
That April low ranks 8th coldest of the 30 MLB venues, and May here ranks 17th wettest.
April
3.6 inchesMay
4.1 inchesJune
4.0 inchesJuly
3.5 inchesAugust
4.0 inchesSeptember
2.8 inchesOctober
3.5 inchesWhat to Bring
- Only the outside food and drink the rule allows
Guests may bring a personal amount of food in a small disposable bag and factory-sealed plastic bottles into Wrigley Field.
- A card or a phone wallet
Wrigley Field purchases are cashless and accept credit cards, debit cards, and mobile wallets.
- A warm layer for after dark
April nights average 41°F at Wrigley Field.
- Sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat
July highs average 85°F at Wrigley Field, with no roof over the seats.
- A poncho, not an umbrella
Umbrellas are on Wrigley Field's prohibited list, and May averages 4.1 inches of rain.
How We Checked This Page
Every section below names the source it was read from and the day it was read. Where we could not reach a published figure, the page says so rather than presenting an estimate as a checked fact.
- Game day timeline
Gate opening time checked against the venue's own gate-opening policy: Gates open 90 minutes before first pitch for most games and two hours before Opening Day, Saturday games, and special occasions unless announced otherwise.
- Pregame
Chicago Cubs official site: Wrigley Field Policies and Procedures, Security, Know Before You Go, and Parking
- Weather
NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals
- Venue policies
Wrigley Field security, policies, and accessibility guides reviewed for entry, family, payment, food, and accessibility rules.