CHICAGO — Opening day for the Chicago Cubs is just days away and on Monday some fortunate fans had the chance to take the field.

Coined the ‘Play for Opening Day’ event, Cubs fans gathered at Wrigley Field for the chance to win prizes and the opportunity to show off their abilities with a bat.

“I think its been a long winter and we’re ready for it to be over and warm up and to get back out to baseball at Wrigley Field,” said Cubs Senior Vice President of Ticketing, Cale Vennum. “So we wanted to raise some awareness that the season is starting and have some fun while we do it.”

Fans who arrived at the event by noon were given a scratch off card, and if they were lucky enough to be one of 50 who had a winning ticket, they got the opportunity to take three swings and hit one of several targets for a variety of prizes, which included a sizable cash prize to the first fan who could hit the stack of Budweiser cases in the upper level of the Budweiser Bleachers.

“We’ve got two big targets out in the outfield and all you have to do is hit the Buds,” Vennum said. “And if you hit the buds, you win a million dollars.”

Even if all 50 fans went 0-3 on their attempts, no one left empty handed as each fan who took part in the promotion went home with tickets to Opening Day.

“This is a very exciting way to kick off the baseball season,” said Chris Howard, a Cubs fan at the event.

The Cubs open up the MLB regular season Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers, starting at 1:20 p.m. CST in the Friendly Confines with Marcus Stroman set to toe the rubber.