Spring Training Online

The Arizona Diamondbacks say they’ve narrowed the choice for a new spring-training faciity to three in the greater Phoenix area, but they’re not discussing specifics. D-Backs chief executive Derrick Hall is letting out a few details, however. Two of the three sites are on tribal lands, which would indicate the Salt River Pima-Maricopa and Fort […]

The Cincinnati Reds are looking at a August move to their new spring-training digs in Goodyear, Arizona, as the team prepares for Cactus League play in 2010. The new complex is next to the Cleveland Indians’ training facility. The pair will share Goodyear Ballpark.

Lee County Commissioners have selected a site close to Southwest Florida International Airport as the future home of a Boston Red Sox spring-training camp. It was a site that was almost eliminated from consideration in the early going, both for its location — the site is just barely within the target area for the camp […]

With multiple deadlines at play, the Baltimore Orioles appear close to making a decision about moving spring-training operations to Sarasota or Fort Myers. In both situations, the team would play at an existing facility: Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota or City of Palms Park in Fort Myers. Ed Smith Stadium could be available to the […]

The official numbers confirm what many in baseball have been saying: attendance is down 5 percent in Cactus League games this spring despite the full-time addition of the Indians and Dodgers to the mix. That’s a surprise: many expected the Cactus League to receive a boost from the move of Los Angeles and Cleveland from […]

In his annual spring meeting with reporters, Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney admits the team’s days at Mesa’s HoHoKam Park are numbered and says the team is looking at a new spring-training home. The issue: the team practices at Fitch Field and plays at HoHoKam Park. While HoHoKam Park is a perfectly fine facility and the […]

The only team that entered February games selling out every fixed seat for every spring-training matchup? Not the Red Sox. Not the Yankees. It was the Tampa Bay Rays, who sold out every fixed seat at Charlotte County Sports Park well in advance of the team’s first game of 2009. The Rays have kept up […]

Spring-training attendance is down some 20 percent this spring when compared to 2008, as teams struggle with smaller crowds. Teams in the Cactus League are averaging 4,472 fans per game, down from 5,719 in 2008. It’s still relatively early, of course; we’re still not to the point where any schools are out for spring break, […]

We all knew this would be a rough spring in Vero Beach, the first for the community after the departure of the Dodgers from Dodgertown. Now Indian River County is scrambling to bring back baseball, but the chances are amateurs, not pros, will on the field. Today, the storied Dodgertown complex sits empty, locked to […]

We are already planning the next version of Spring Training Online for 2010. And as we do so, we’d like to hear from you. By all measures, the revamping of the site was a tremendous success: we doubled site traffic and the number of unique visitors to the site. The site and our book, The […]