Chris Elwell
Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of Sporting News
Move over football, baseball is back! With the 2024-25 NFL season coming to an end and the Philadelphia Eagles being Super Bowl LIX champions, we can now look forward to naming the 2025 World Series winner. Pitchers and catchers officially reported to their respective camps today, and the baseball season is underway!
It’s not quite time yet for the regular season to start, but on Thursday, Feb. 20, the Chicago Cubs will travel to Glendale, AZ to take on the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers to kick off spring training. All 30 teams will be evaluating their rosters and seeing who will make the 26-man roster coming out of camp, and players from every level of the organization will have a chance to put their skills on display. Whether they’re on the back fields of the complex or seemingly have a roster spot waiting for them, every player will use their time to work on their game and impact their team.
Each spring training complex has its own facilities for player development. Still, from the fan perspective, different things are offered in terms of atmosphere, amenities, setting, aesthetics, and functionality that give them an exclusive look at their favorite team getting ready for the 162-game season. Certain complexes offer more access than others, and while some teams share venues, there is a sense of overall experience that makes stadiums more enjoyable to visit than others. The standard that some venues hold themselves to attract fans of other teams is to travel to either Florida or Arizona to watch a game and make memories for everyone, from diehard fans to people looking for a fun adventure.
In the case of a night game, you can even make a day out of stopping at different complexes and comparing what each has to offer for fans to do and see. Whether it be in Florida or Arizona, some great venues make watching a ballgame a must-have experience for a baseball fan of any level.
Here are some of the top spring training destinations in Arizona:
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, Scottsdale, AZ)
The home of the Diamondbacks and Rockies is one of the top destinations for spring training. Salt River offers an 11,000-seat capacity stadium, with 12 practice fields, Major and Minor League clubhouses, and training facilities and offices for each team. When the complex opened in 2011, it became the first MLB spring training facility built on Indian land in the country.
Amenities & Aesthetics:
The stadium gives fans the opportunity to watch from anywhere in the ballpark and get a glimpse of Native American architecture to combine the historical aspect of the area with the chance to watch their favorite players from a unique perspective.
Besides the game itself, the complex offers different activities in the area, including restaurants, shopping centers, the Talking Stick Resort and Casino, and hiking trails located on the west side of the complex.
Atmosphere:
Franchise players get a nice round of applause whenever they take the field in the spring. Fans of all teams can interact while still watching the game with the new scoreboard in left field that provides the line score, a description of the players, and between-innings entertainment.
Functionality:
The overall design allows fans to walk around the complex and see the training aspect of being a professional baseball player and the everyday life of preparing for the season. The concourse is wide open and offers a wide range of viewing points of the field, as well as concessions and clean restrooms scattered across the stadium.
Average attendance is commonly in the range of 6,000 to 8,000 per game and sometimes people come out with lawn chairs to sit on the hills right beyond the outfield fence, especially on the weekends. Teams like the Dodgers or Cubs, whose facilities are particularly closer to Salt River coming to Scottsdale draw more of a crowd.
Setting:
The complex is scattered throughout 140 acres of Camelback Mountain, the McDowell Mountains, Four Peaks, Red Mountain, and the Superstition Mountains, making for one of the premium backdrops in baseball. Located right off the Loop 101 Pima Freeway, fans can enter the complex and park in any of the three lots designated for parking, and attendants offer golf carts to get them to and from the stadium.
Sloan Park (Chicago Cubs, Mesa, AZ)
Photo Courtesy of visitmesa.com
Sloan Park is the home of the Chicago Cubs during spring training and offers a 15,000-seat stadium located at Riverview Park in Mesa, AZ. Fans are drawn to the facility to get an exclusive look at players on any of the seven practice fields and affordable tickets to games that range anywhere from $9 to $40.
Amenities & Aesthetics:
The complex was constructed for nearly $100 million and gives fans a state-of-the-art experience to watch games with views of the field being nearly perfect in any given section of the stadium. While watching a game, fans can walk around and enjoy comforts such as luxury suites and party decks with catering, a high-definition video board, a designated Kids Zone located beyond center field, food trucks, rooftop seating in the Left Field Budweiser Party Deck, and novelty, concession, and restroom areas scattered throughout the facility.
Atmosphere:
Chicago draws one of the highest average attendances across the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, averaging nearly 14,000 fans per game at one of the top spring training venues. In addition to Cubs spring training games, Sloan Park also hosts concerts, theater, and other events year-round.
Functionality:
Players use the brand-new workout facility, which is the largest of any spring training facility in Major League Baseball. Across all levels of the organization, there will be practices and workouts happening on the six full practice fields, one half-field, agility field, and other facilities.
Fans are able to park in one of the six parking lots with around 5,000 spaces spread throughout the 140-acre site, which makes for the perfect tailgating area before and after games.
Setting:
Located behind Riverview Lake in Mesa, the area provides fans and visitors access to the five-acre lake, a boardwalk, and a pavilion for other events. The facility is easily accessible by the Valley Metro Trail to the Sycamore/Main St. location and connects to bus route 96 in Dodson. Fans driving to the facility can take the AZ loop 101 North or 202 West, which brings them within a mile of Sloan Park.
Camelback Ranch (Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, Glendale, AZ)
Photo Courtesy of travelsports.com
Camelback Ranch-Glendale offers one of the largest spring training facilities in Major League Baseball. In addition to the 13,000-seat capacity stadium, 12 luxury suites, and a party deck, the complex has 13 full-sized practice fields and three half-fields. The facility is used for Major and Minor League baseball year-round and was opened in March 2009.
Amenities & Aesthetics:
The complex features a five-acre lake system with a river that irrigates fields and site landscaping. The landscaping and architecture of the facility blend the natural colors of the desert in Arizona with the primary cities of Los Angeles and Chicago.
Two practice fields replicate the Dodgers and White Sox home fields with the exact dimensions of Dodger Stadium and Rate Field. Fans can walk around the complex and take pictures with statues of iconic players and surrounding sight lines that allow for unobstructed views due to the fields being sunk 12 feet below seating level.
Atmosphere:
In 2024, Los Angeles had a franchise record for the highest average attendance for Cactus League games since moving to Camelback Ranch with over 11,000 fans per game to the White Sox average of just under 5,000. The complex’s design allows fans of all levels to be in touch and stay involved in more ways like learning the history of the franchises and watching practices and workouts.
Functionality:
From February to November, the stadium hosts both standard and extended spring training, the Arizona Summer and Fall Leagues, and the Instructional League. Camelback Ranch is also the home of much of the player development and rehabilitation operations for Los Angeles and Chicago.
Setting:
Located just west of State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, and Gila River Arena, the former home of the Arizona Coyotes, the 141-acre complex is on Camelback Road and surrounded by sightseeing and other attractions like the Westgate Entertainment District, Desert Diamond West Valley Casino, and other restaurants, bars, concerts, and shopping centers makes it an area for people of all interests.
Florida:
CoolToday Park (Atlanta Braves, North Port, FL)
Photo Courtesy of kcglobaldesign.com
CoolToday Park became the spring training home of the Atlanta Braves in 2019 and is the product of contributions from the team, the State of Florida, the City of North Port, Sarasota County, and the developer of Wellen Park Florida, Mattamy Homes. The facility gives players the proper space to develop their skills and contribute to one of the winningest franchises in baseball history.
Amenities & Aesthetics:
Fans have the opportunity to take a full tour of the complex once the spring training season ends, in which they can get on-field access to CoolToday Park, a walk through the press box and luxury suites, an inside look at the Braves dugout and bullpen, and a trip to the auditorium inside The Academy. Tours must be booked by 7 a.m. the Friday before the tour date and are subject to change due to activities at the ballpark and the weather.
Visitors can shop at the two-level Braves Clubhouse Team Store to buy merchandise of their favorite players, past or present, and stop for a bite to eat at their patio restaurant and bar open year-round for lunch and dinner.
Atmosphere:
CoolToday Park can accommodate up to 8,000 fans with 6,200 fixed seats, with a section of bleachers located behind the right-center field fence and a hill in left-center field where people have their own space and enjoy the sights and sounds of the game from a unique view.
Right outside the stadium features the numbers of retired players and murals of franchise icons, similar to Truist Park. For a franchise as historic as the Atlanta Braves, their home facilities have always done a great job of cherishing their history and tying it in with its current status and players.
Functionality:
The complex features 50,000 sq. ft. of open green space, an 18,000 sq. ft. indoor training and medical facility, and six major league quality practice fields dedicated to player development and rehabilitation. The stadium has the exact dimensions of their home ballpark and prepares the players well for a success-filled career with the team.
Setting:
Just 35 miles south of Sarasota, FL, the complex is easily accessible by Interstate 75 and offers free parking for visiting fans. After their relocation from their former facility at ESPN World Wide of Sports Complex, which was two and a half hours away, the Braves now offer a state-of-the-art park that makes for one of the best spring training venues to visit for a baseball fan of any team.
Spectrum Field (Philadelphia Phillies, Clearwater, FL)
Photo Courtesy of mlb.com
Home of the Phillies Low-A affiliate Clearwater Threshers and spring training activities, Spectrum Field has been the team’s facility since 1947, the second-longest affiliation between a major league team and their spring training complex. The stadium has been open since 2004 and is the home of their Gulf Coast League team and Florida Instructional League.
Amenities & Aesthetics:
The ballpark is designed with a classic Floridian architectural style as fans have a main concourse running fully around the stadium, a kids play area, group picnic areas, party suites, a tiki-hut pavilion behind the left-field fence, and 7,300 fixed seats with space for another 1,500 people on grassy hill seating beyond the outfield fence. Their video scoreboard in left-center field gives an insight into player information to help fans build connections with players and their backgrounds.
Atmosphere:
Fans interested in receiving autographs from players is very popular before games in the stadium. A designated autograph area cleared 40 minutes before game time is available or by the fence of the player parking lot after games as they wait for their cars coming from the valet station. Autograph culture in Clearwater certainly brings more fans to the ballpark with the chance to meet their favorite players firsthand, which leads to a full stadium of baseball fans looking to watch their team play.
Functionality:
The Carpenter Complex, home to the Paul Owens Training Facility and the David P. Montgomery Baseball Performance Center was built and has been in use since 1967. Four practice fields in this area are each named after a specific legend from Phillies history, specifically Richie Ashburn, Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts, and Mike Schmidt. The players also have access to the two full-sized baseball fields, half-field, pitching mound, and football and soccer fields in the DiMaggio Sports Complex.
Setting:
Behind the viewing points in the outfield, there is a sightline of palm trees and Clearwater Beach in the background, making for one of the nicest and most unique backdrops of all spring training facilities.
Spectrum Field can be found either by taking U.S. Highway 19 or 60 and offers accessible parking lots in all directions, primarily the DiMaggio Sports Complex, which is an easy walk to the stadium and its connecting features.
Ed Smith Stadium (Baltimore Orioles, Sarasota, FL)
Photo Courtesy of ballparksofbaseball.com
Ed Smith Stadium has been the Orioles spring training home since 1989, replacing Payne Park, and named after the Sarasota civic leader who was at the forefront of getting this stadium built. The complex has built up a reputation as one of the premier spring training facilities in Florida and has played a role in the quick rebuilding of the Orioles organization to one of the top teams in the American League.
Amenities & Aesthetics:
Between the 2010 and 2011 spring training seasons, Ed Smith Stadium underwent a $31.2 million renovation to give fans a feeling of a classic ballpark and honor Sarasota’s architectural history. One of the most notable changes to the stadium was the installation of 7,100 seats recycled from their home stadium of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The new structure also included a roof extension and apron covering the grandstand seats to address complaints sent in from fans about the lack of shaded areas.
Atmosphere:
With very little foul territory down the lines of the field, fans get a close look at live play and have a chance to interact with players at a level they would not normally get to experience in a regular season game.
Functionality:
Upon entry to the stadium behind home plate, fans are immediately given a full view of the stadium and a 360-look of the open concourse filled with concessions, restrooms, and accessibility sections that accommodate fans of all ages. The back of the concourse beyond the field of play was expanded towards the street leading to an elevated facade overlooking the field with extra concession stands and bathrooms being built.
Players and team executives can use the four-and-a-half practice fields and office suites. The practice fields are all at major league quality to ensure the development and rehabilitation of players to boost the overall skills of prospects and players at the major league level.
Setting:
The facility is just ten minutes outside of the city of Sarasota, making it an easily accessible activity for baseball fans and tourists coming to Florida looking for different activities to experience. Around the stadium, there are tons of restaurants, family activities like museums, and bike and Suncoast tours that can make spending a full day in Sarasota an experience to remember for people of all ages.
