Spring Training

February is the single heaviest month for sports requests we get, and it's when Cactus League play starts and the Phoenix Open is wrapping up across town. The baseball runs through most of March, and the rest of the Valley's calendar piles on top of it.

February through May carries nearly half the year's requested dates. Your March Saturday is also somebody's wedding, somebody's bachelorette weekend and the start of prom season, all fighting for the same buses.

Weekdays are a different world. A Tuesday 1:05 at Sloan Park has the same sunshine and far less competition. On size, most visiting fan groups land between sixteen and twenty, so the 18-passenger party bus is the usual starting point and the 24-passenger party bus covers the group that keeps adding cousins. A dozen friends on an annual trip are comfortable in a 14-passenger limo Sprinter.

And one thing about March Saturdays: they carry a six-hour minimum, prom season included. A day game plus the drive is already close to that, so it rarely changes the plan, but it's good to know before you compare a Saturday game against a weekday one.

The east-side parks sit close together: Sloan, Hohokam, Salt River Fields, Scottsdale Stadium and Tempe Diablo are all within about twenty minutes of each other. The West Valley parks are spread out, and Surprise to Mesa is a 45 to 60 minute drive. Staying in Scottsdale while your team trains in Surprise or Goodyear is the whole reason to have a vehicle.

Nearly every Cactus League game starts at 1:05 or 1:10, with a handful of night games. Gates open about ninety minutes early. Here's a day for a group staying in Old Town and seeing a West Valley game.

• 10:45 Hotel pickup. Coolers loaded, sunscreen already on.
• 11:40 Arrive as gates open. This is when players sign along the rails and the lawn is still empty enough to claim a spot.
• 1:05 First pitch.
• 4:00 Game ends. Spring games move fast, and regulars start drifting out in the seventh once the starters are done.
• 4:20 On the bus while the lots are still emptying.
• 5:15 Happy hour back in Old Town, or a Peoria brewery on the way.

That's a six or seven hour day, longer than the four hours most Valley trips run, so map it in the route planner and ask for a quote on the full span. Adding the hour at the front is easier than finding it at the back.

The weather is why everyone comes, and it's also what sends the most visitors back to the hotel in the fifth inning. A March afternoon here is often 80 to 90 degrees with no clouds and very low humidity. Lawn seating and most of the outfield have no shade at all.

• Buy seats on whichever side of the park gets afternoon shade. It varies by ballpark, and the team's seating chart usually marks it.
• Hats, sunscreen and water for everyone. Most parks allow a sealed bottle, but check that ballpark's rules.
• Pace the beer. Dry heat hides how dehydrated you already are.
• Look at the forecast the night before with the weather checker, because late February can also be 60 and windy.

Most out-of-town groups see three or four games over a long weekend. A few decisions make that trip much smoother.

Choose the hotel by ballpark cluster. If your team is in the West Valley, staying near Westgate puts you within twenty minutes of four parks. If nightlife matters more than the commute, stay in Old Town or Tempe and let the vehicle handle the drive.

You may not need a vehicle every day. Groups staying in Old Town can walk to Scottsdale Stadium. Book transportation for the far games and the day you plan to make a full event of it.

Ask when the schedule comes out. It's published months ahead, and mid-March weekends fill first because they collide with college spring break. Arrivals count too: a group landing together with luggage is a separate job, covered on the airport shuttle page. The split cost calculator divides a multi-day total fairly when not everyone goes to every game.