Baseball’s regular season begins this week, which means the abbreviated spring training session for teams, which started late due to the offseason lockdown, is over.
However, since it is never too early to plan — and next year is expected to be a return to full spring training, here are five reasons why attending spring training games and practices in Florida and Arizona is an experience like no other.
1. The ability to watch players up close and personal.
With spring training, it’s not just about going to games in a stadium. Teams have complexes with practice grounds surrounding the stadiums where they practice before the start of exhibition games, or even in the case of minor league prospects, practice while the big leaguers play at the stadium in an exhibition match.
Given that, it’s a glorious chance to watch the players perform drills at one of the training grounds at close range.
Of course, you can’t be unruly and go where you want, given the security measures in place, and security personnel are all around, to point you in the right direction and make sure there’s no has no harm.
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But as long as you go to the right places and follow the rules, it’s a unique experience to watch players closer and more personally than usual, and possibly get some autographs.
2. Tickets are cheaper than at real games.
Similar to minor league baseball games, spring training games can offer the best of both worlds in that you can enjoy a baseball game, but you can do so at a fraction of the cost of one. regular season game in that team’s home city.
3. You can rub it to your family and friends about the weather.
Going to a regular season game in the summer can be fun, but there’s no indication that you’ve escaped to a special paradise, as the weather is usually great this time of year in most cities with an MLB franchise. .
However, it may feel different for spring training, depending on where you live.
If you’re from the north, attending a spring training game or practice in February and March can give you a reason to rub shoulders with family and friends who are still freezing at home.
For years at Detroit Tigers spring training games, the PA announcer arrives and announces the temperature in the major cities of their respective franchises, then announces the temperature at the spring training site amid thundering thunder. ‘applause.
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During a March game between the Tigers and New York Yankees, announcers said it was around 30 degrees in New York and Detroit that day, while it was nearly 80 in Lakeland, in Florida.
4. You can get a glimpse of the future of the team.
Practice games and spring training allow major leaguers to get in shape for the season, but they also offer top minor league prospects the chance to audition their skills and see how good they are on the field. point of qualifying for the big leagues.
During the regular season, these minor league prospects can be split into different tiers and cities, so spring training provides a place for many of them to be together and for fans to watch.
5. Being able to move to different sites.
Are you a Yankees fan in town but there is no game in Tampa where the team practices? Drive about 30 minutes to see them at the Philadelphia Phillies complex in Clearwater.
Are you a Pittsburgh Pirates fan who wants to see them play away from home in Bradenton?
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Drive down I-75 for about 20 minutes and catch them as they take on the Baltimore Orioles at their Sarasota facility.
Even if you’re a fan of one team and just want to compare what it’s like to go to another team’s facilities, the short Florida and Arizona trips between resorts allow you to do so. .
It’s almost like you can be a spring training nomad!
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