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cactus league in march

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by DocTalk, Jan 5, 2009.

  1. DocTalk

    DocTalk Active Member

    Work brings to me to Phoenix at the beginning of March. Any suggestions as to which spring training games to see out of this list? I hope there will be time to share a beer or two if anybody is interested.


    Mar 2nd Mon Angels at ROCKIES 1:10 Hi Corbett Field Map Tickets
    Mar 2nd Mon Brewers at PADRES 1:05 Peoria Sports Complex Map Tickets
    Mar 2nd Mon Diamondbacks at CUBS 1:05 HoHoKam Park Map Tickets
    Mar 2nd Mon Giants at ROYALS 1:05 Surprise Recreation Campus Map Tickets
    Mar 2nd Mon Mariners at WHITE SOX 1:05 Glendale Ballpark Map Tickets
    Mar 2nd Mon Rangers at INDIANS 1:05 Goodyear Ballpark Map Tickets
    Mar 3rd Tue Athletics at CUBS 1:05 HoHoKam Park Map Tickets
    Mar 3rd Tue Diamondbacks at GIANTS 1:05 Scottsdale Stadium Map Tickets
    Mar 3rd Tue Rockies at BREWERS 1:05 Maryvale Baseball Park Map Tickets
    Mar 3rd Tue Dodgers at PADRES 1:05 Peoria Sports Complex Map Tickets
    Mar 3rd Tue Indians at ROYALS 1:05 Surprise Recreation Campus Map Tickets
     
  2. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Depends what teams you want to see and where you're staying. From a convenience standpoint (assuming you're in Phoenix or Scottsdale), you can't go wrong with HoHoKam (Cubs) or Scottsdale (Giants). Goodyear or Glendale (brand new) would be fun to check out. Peoria and Surprise are your longer drives from.
     
  3. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Scratch Hi Corbett Field off the list. It's in Tucson and it's a dump.

    The two hardest tickets will be the Cubs and Giants games at home against the D-Backs. Don't know if those are already on sale, but if they are your seating choices may already be limited.

    Dodgers-Padres should be good. The Peoria Sports Complex is very nice. Demand may be high since it's the Dodgers' first year here, but that's the game that jumped out at me.

    As for the Monday games... Glendale and Goodyear are both new facilities this year so it's hard to say. Glendale is very close to the Cardinals and Coyotes facilities, so there are a lot of good bars and restaurants out there.
     
  4. DocTalk

    DocTalk Active Member

    Thanks for the feedback. Thinking of baseball is a great way to ignore the freezing rain and below zero temperatures that have blessed this part of the world over the weekend.
     
  5. Screwball

    Screwball Active Member

    If you're in downtown Phoenix, Maryvale is about 10 minutes, Scottsdale 15, Mesa 20, Glendale/Goodyear 30, Peoria 35, Surprise 45, Tucson 110.

    That's without traffic. There will be traffic, and lots of it, after the game.
     
  6. RecentAZgrad

    RecentAZgrad Active Member

    Wherever you end up going, make sure it has lawn seats -- and then sit there. Nothing better than spring training from the lawn.
     
  7. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    If you want to go to that cub game, tickets go on sale tomorrow. The Indians, Royals and Rangers are already on sale. Most of the othwers go on sale in the next week or two.
     
  8. ArnoldBabar

    ArnoldBabar Active Member

    Ditto. My least favorite road games every spring.

    See HoHoKam and Surprise (the nicest park in the league, though a pretty good ways off the grid from Phoenix) for sure, and Scottsdale is always a good atmosphere even if they think it's reasonable to charge people $10 to sit on the ground. Peoria and Maryvale are both nice but not anything special. Haven't been to the new ones, but they're bound to be spiffy.
     
  9. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Can't go wrong with any of that. I enjoyed Maryvale a lot more than I thought I would, last year. Sausage races were fun to see for the first time, since I'm nowhere near Milwaukee. Good food, everything was clean and sparkly, lively crowd for Brewers-Sox. Neighborhood's a bit of a dump, though.

    Mesa is just as much fun, but a lot more of a hassle for parking/traffic and seating, with 10,000 Cubs fans there for most big games. I'm pretty sure half the Midwest emigrates to Arizona for a month. That place was a zoo last year (in a good way).

    Scottsdale is a nice park, but nothing special. Trendy neighborhood with some really good eats nearby. Peoria is a nicer park.

    Not sure why anybody would complain about distance for these Phoenix-area parks. They're all very quick drives. I've stayed downtown, in Tempe and in Glendale and they were all easy to get to from any starting point. The Grapefruit League would kill to have parks so close to each other.
     
  10. donnie23

    donnie23 Member

    Not sure I'd be too stoked about going Mesa to Surprise in PHX traffic, but on the whole, this really is much easier than Florida. I'd want to hit Scottsdale for the amount of stuff to do before/after the game. If it were me, I'd do Cubs Tuesday and Giants Wednesday.
     
  11. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Maryvale has a surprisingly nice park. It is a crappy neighborhood (and I should know - I work down the street). One warning there - they're used to small crowds, so they staff every game on the assumption that no one will be there. I went there to see the Brewers & Angels who drew a pretty good crowd. Parking was a joke and it took me more than two innings to try (and fail) to get a hot dog. If they get more than 2 or 3 thousand to a game there, they're completely lost.

    I mostly go to Tempe Diablo to see the Angels and it's a nice place to see a game. One of my favorites is Phoenix Muni, and it's really overlooked. Sit on the first base side and the view over the left field wall is of the Papago Buttes. Gorgeous. Getting in and out is pretty easy, too.
     
  12. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Love Phoenix Muni, and Tempe Diablo too (although that got pretty crowded the only time I've been there, too.)

    Love even more the fact that you can drive up Prince(?) and hit three parks in about 15 minutes -- Tempe, Phoenix and Scottsdale.
     
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