Cactus League Changes and Growth

The Phoenix city skyline is changing and the landscape of the Cactus League Spring Training is changing as well. Changes are happening fast and, quite honestly, we are having a great time trying to stay up to date with these changes. With so much going on in the Valley of the Sun, the only thing that baseball fans would like to see more of, are the teams. The Cactus League has been great to Arizona and our tourism but, timing has been excellent as of the last couple of years. Major League Baseball teams are returning and new ones are arriving as Arizona is becoming the place that more and more teams call home for the spring months.

Ideally as baseball fans, we would like to see all teams play in Arizona but our writers will settle for the western teams. I know that we can speak for most fans when we say that we will welcome all of the teams that we can get. The weather is great, the parks are all within a couple hours of driving (with Tucson being the exception) and we have tons of fans. Glancing at the layout of the Grapefruit League, one would wonder what teams are still doing there. While the answer is obvious for the east coast teams, it does not make much economic sense for teams like the Dodgers, Astros and the Reds. Some of the Florida locations are four or more hours apart which could make for a long day when Arizona teams are able to hop between most locations quite easily.

Probably the most notable move is that of the Los Angeles Dodgers moving from their long-time facility in Vero Beach Florida. The place named Dodgertown as picked up and moved closer to their regular season home. The Dodgers will be playing in Glendale where they will be plenty close to several of their rivals including their Freeway Series nemesis, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Dodgers will also be within close proximity of the Giants, Cubs and your Arizona Diamondbacks. Although the tension between the D-Backs and the Dodgers is relatively new compared to that with the other teams, deeply rooted in MLB history, there is plenty of rivalry to go around.

As we were researching schedules for the 2009 Spring Training, we came across the story of the new ballpark in Goodyear. To our surprise we learned that another team was going to be joining us for our next Cactus League round of action. The Cleveland Indians, who once called the Cactus League their spring home, will be returning in 2009 in a brand new state-of-the-art facility. The team will be playing in Goodyear, Arizona beginning this year. This is exciting for the state and for the Phoenix Metro area as it sets precedence for the teams that continue to train in Florida and may be considering new spring training locations.

Another team that had been thinking of relocating and that we were also unaware of is the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds broke ground this week on a facility of their own in Goodyear as the team expects to play the 2010 Cactus League in our home state of Arizona. We think that this is a pretty good indication that more and more teams west of the Mississippi will join us and our gorgeous weather in a state that is rich with baseball history. All of this to add to the eminent arrival of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Valley of the Sun. The D-Backs have expressed sincere interest in moving closer to the action, from Tucson to Phoenix.

In the months to come. AZ Hardball will go into greater detail about the history of the Cactus League as we publish our January feature story. Be sure to sign up for email updates as we release more baseball features, news and articles.