CHICAGO – Top of the first, one out. It’s a Friday in July, the start of a holiday weekend, and the Chicago Cubs are hosting the Miami Marlins.

Christian Yelich drives a 2-2 pitch from Jason Hammel to the second or third row in center field, prompting a groan from the fans inside Wrigley Field.

At the Wrigley Rooftops’ building down the right-field line, just beyond the famed ballpark’s ivy-covered walls and across Sheffield Avenue, none of the fans seem to realize the ball is gone until Yelich breaks into his home-run trot.

That’s because most of the outfield is obscured by a large video board towering over right field.

Even so, Kevin Biederwolf of suburban Schaumburg, Illinois, says: “It’s a blast up here.”

Big changes are happening on Chicago’s North Side. The long-suffering Cubs, “those Lovable Losers” who last won a World Series championship in 1908 and haven’t been to the series since 1945, are contending for a playoff spot after a top-to-bottom overhaul.

Their beloved ballpark and parts of the surrounding Wrigleyville neighborhood are getting a makeover, too.

A $575 million transformation started in the offseason after years of meetings, hearings and legal battles with the surrounding rooftop owners who sell unique views into the stadium under an unusual revenue-sharing deal with the team that lasts until Dec. 31, 2023. There are 16 rooftops in all and the owners’ anger with the stadium renovations has been a flashpoint for several years.