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TicketWatch: January 19, 2008
The is the prime time to plan your spring-training trip. But what's the ticket situation for 2008? Surprisingly, there are a lot of good tickets floating around out there. We polled the MLB.com site and checked out ticket availability for March 5, 15 and 19 games -- the height of the spring season. Here's what we found.

► Atlanta Braves: The large capacity at Champion Stadium means you can usually snare tickets to almost every game, though you may be sitting down the line. For example, the only tickets for the March 4 game against the Phillies are far down the right-field line, while only lawn seating remains for the March 20 night game against the Tigers. But some pretty decent tix remain for the March 15 game against the Rays.
► Arizona Diamondbacks: We can't report on how spring tickets are selling, as the Diamondbacks online ordering system was broken when we checked.
► Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles struggle to attract fans to Fort Lauderdale, and this spring is no exception. Very good box seats remain for the March 5 Marlins game, March 16 Nationals game and the March 19 Cardinals game. Bleacher seating remains for the March 7 Red Sox game.
► Boston Red Sox: Surprisingly, the Red Sox didn't sell out spring training the day tickets went on sale. General admission tickets remain for the March 4 Pirates game and the March 5 Reds game. Check out Ballpark Digest Tickets for secondary-market tickets.
► Chicago Cubs: HoHoKam Park remains one of the most popular Cactus League venues, and weekend games are hot draws for the Cubs: You'll be sitting far down the line for the March 16 Angels game. Surprisingly good seats remain for the March 4 Brewers game and March 19 Athletics game. The March 22 White Sox game is sold out.
► Chicago White Sox: Plenty of good seats remain for all games, including the March 15 Cubs game.
► Cincinnati Reds: Tickets go on sale Jan. 26.
► Cleveland Indians: Fans seem to be responding to the nostalgia factor as the Indians spend their last spring in the Grapefruit League. Limited seating remains for the March 5 Braves game, March 15 Astros game and the March 20 Rays game.
► Colorado Rockies: Plenty of good seats remain, even for the March 21 Cubs game and March 23 Dodgers game.
► Detroit Tigers: Tickets at Tiger Town are hotter than at any point in recent years, but that doesn't mean you can't score good seats. The March 5 Phillies game features plenty of good seats, and we score great seats to the March 9 Pirates game. The March 15 Yankees game is a sellout.
► Florida Marlins: Tickets go on sale Jan. 26.
► Houston Astros: Tickets go on sale Jan. 26.
► Kansas City Royals: Plenty of good tickets remain for every game.
► Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Traditionally it hasn't been hard to score Angels spring tickets, but the rise in the popularity of the team has made spring a more hectic undertaking. Still, there seems to be plenty of great seats available. Great Field MVP grandstand seats in Section 12 and Section 17 popped up for the March 6 and March 20 games against the Giants, but the pickins were slimmer for the March 16 Saturday game, with only Field Box and berm seats available. Fans are making the trip for weekend games but staying away on the weekdays, it seems.
► Los Angeles Dodgers: Tickets go on sale in February, but the Dodgers aren't saying exactly when.
► Milwaukee Brewers: Maryvale Baseball Park is an underrated venue, and the Brewers are showing some spring life under new owners. But that doesn't mean tickets for a spring game are hard to score. You can sit directly behind the plate at the March 6 Mariners game, the March 15 Royals game and the March 21 Padres game.
► Minnesota Twins: Twins tickets are hot commodity, partly because of the ballpark's proximity to large group of Minnesota expatriates in Naples and to City of Palms Park in Fort Myers. There aren't great seats left for any game, but there are good ones to most, except the Red Sox games. The March 9 Yankees game is the only sellout.
► New York Mets: The Mets are a hot ticket. We didn't find any sellouts, but several games -- including the March 10 Red Sox game -- featured limited seating.
► New York Yankees: The Yankees continue to be a hot draw in spring training. The March 17 game against the Red Sox is (not surprisingly) sold out, as is the March 5 Twins game, the March 10 Reds game and the March 15 Rays game. Check out Ballpark Digest Tickets for secondary-market tickets.
► Oakland Athletics: Oakland is traditionally not a great draw for spring training, and the combination of the team's payroll downsizing and truncated schedule should further dampen demand. Plenty of good seats remain for the March 5 Padres and the March 19 Angels game. The only game where tickets are tight is the March 15 Giants game.
► Pittsburgh Pirates: Tickets go on sale Jan. 26.
► Philadelphia Phillies: There are a surprising number of games with good seats available, including the March 6 Rays game and the March 15 Twins game. The March 1 and 26 Yankees games are sold out.
► San Diego Padres: You can score great seats to the March 6 Rockies game, March 15 Athletics game and the March 20 Mariners game. .
► San Francisco Giants: Passion for Giants spring tix seems to have cooled. Decent tickets for the March 5 Royals game and March 7 Athletics game. Bleacher seats remain for the March 15 Mariners game and March 19 Cubs game.
► Seattle Mariners: Club seating is available for the March 5 Angels game, and decent seats remain for the March 16 Brewers game and March 19 Diamondbacks game.
► St. Louis Cardinals: Tickets go on sale Jan. 26.
► Tampa Bay Rays: The last spring training in Al Lang Field hasn't inspired Rays fans. Not even the March 12 Yankees game is sold out.
► Texas Rangers: You can score good tickets to pretty much any Rangers home game, including Cubs and Giants games.
► Toronto Blue Jays: Knology Park is one the underrated gems of the Grapefruit League. So far no games are sold out, and the only two games where tickets are not wide open are the March 4 and March 20 games against the Yankees.
► Washington Nationals: Tickets go on sale Jan. 26.

We checked out available tickets on MLB.com, where teams directly sell tickets at the lowest prices. That should be your first step as you look for spring-training tickets. In a situation where you want seats to a sold-out game or better seats to a game with limited ticket availabilty, you'll need to check out the secondard market, which includes Ballpark Digest Tickets.
 

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