The sale of the Cubs to Tribune Company had been completed in August 1981, but the turnover of management of the team to people hired by Tribco wasn’t finished until after the 1981 season ended, when GM Bob Kennedy was replaced by Dallas Green.
Thus it wasn’t until Opening Day 1982 that the Cubs really played their first game under a new ownership for the first time in several decades. It happened against the Reds in Cincinnati, which back then was granted the first MLB game of the year due to the Cincinnati Red Stockings’ status as the first professional baseball team in 1869.