Wrigley Field will expand its restroom capacity by 40 percent
The Cubs' motto in 2015 should be: Go before you go. (USATSI)

The Chicago Cubs have been apologetic ever since it was evident Sunday night that Wrigley Field did not have enough working restrooms to accommodate a crowd of 35,000, which amounted to a sellout. With the team in the middle of renovating part of the 101-year-old ballpark, fans reported ugly toilet wait times (30-60 minutes) and ugly behavior (urinating in beer cups, or worse) that marred the season opener against the St. Louis Cardinals.

President of baseball operations Crane Kenney sent an email Monday night to season-ticket holders that in part apologized again for what happened Sunday night, and also gave them something to look forward to the next time they visit Wrigley: Portable toilets. And, coming sometime in "late May," more actual restrooms. Given that they postponed the series finale Tuesday against the Cardinals, that leaves roughly 19 more home games until the Washington Nationals visit May 25. That's a long time to wait to go to the restroom, a quarter of the home schedule almost. Plus, considering that port-a-potties are hard to keep clean, and it's hard to imagine any but the most desperate of women would be willing to sit down in one at a Major League Baseball game. They're bad enough for guys.

But, as Kenney says in the letter, it won't be forever:

Four new restrooms, two women’s and two men’s, in the left-field concourse will be available in late May. Once completed, restroom capacity in the left-field concourse will exceed our 2014 levels.

[W]e will supplement existing restrooms with portable units in the left-field concourse and outside Gate K. With these facilities in place, we will have approximately the same number of fixtures as we did at the end of the 2014 season. In addition, we are working with our gameday staff to help coordinate concourse traffic by communicating shortest wait times at all concourse facilities.

There's an app for that, he's saying. Good on the Cubs for reacting reasonably, but bad on them for, seemingly, not anticipating that there would be delays -- considering part of the reason they're spending $500 million on Wrigley upgrades is because of the paucity of toilets. Part of the problem Sunday involved several toilet fixtures malfunctioning, so they were down even more places of relief than expected. You figure the Cubs will get those working by the next home game next week.

It's also becoming clear that if the Cubs are going to be improved this season as many expect and attendance is up, a lack of restrooms is going to be a recurring issue. Just wait until it's July and August and 35,000 people are packed into Wrigley and you have to go in a port-a-potty. It's going to be ugly.

Here's the full letter:

Cubs bathroom letter
Late May?! (Obtained by ROB)