Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Cubs will play a handful of rare Friday and Saturday night home games this season, which isn’t expected to cause the usual hand-wringing and political fights because the COVID-19 pandemic will stop fans with tickets from flooding into Wrigleyville to snarl traffic around the historic ballpark.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has introduced an ordinance to allow the six Friday night games, starting with the July 24 home opener against the rival Milwaukee Brewers. There are six Saturday night home games on the schedule as well.

More Top Picks Rheem Tankless Water Heater

Still, even without fans in the stands, Wrigleyville has been in the news lately as maskless young people pack into bars there to drink. The Cubs playing will offer another reason for crowds to descend on the entertainment district even if they aren’t allowed into the stadium.

The License Committee this week will consider the one-year change to the rules to allow those games.

Lightfoot on Tuesday said she was OK with adding the weekend nights.

“Obviously, this is an opportunity that the league wants to showcase the Cubs and Wrigley Field,” she said. “So I think that the protections that have been put in place are reasonable. We’ll obviously recalibrate if necessary, but I’m comfortable with the plan that has been agreed to.”

Wrigleyville Ald. Tom Tunney has fought against weekend night games for years, arguing the crowded streets around the ballpark are ill-equipped to handle a huge mix of fans heading to games, workers heading home at rush hour and usual weekend revelers embarking on nights of drinking at local bars.

And on Saturdays, no need to give the Cubs’ notoriously hard-partying fans several more hours to lube up before first pitch.

But with zero fans in the stands because of the virus instead of the usual 40,000 or so, much of the stress will be relieved.

And Major League Baseball is certainly hoping to maximize the number of viewers watching on TV at home by having as many prime-time games as possible with one of the league’s most popular teams during the 60-game virus-shortened season.

[email protected]

Twitter @_johnbyrne