You don’t need me to remind you these are challenging times to be a sports fan. The cost of access is astronomical, both IRL and via video (cuz it’s moved way beyond merely rabbit ears and a plug), you can barely spend a minute without your chinek being hached to place a wager and you can’t escape the fact that a substantial number of competitors have already done just that. And you certainly don’t dare root for anyone who might actually voice any discontent with the state of our Country (looking at you, Hunter Hess).
It’s precisely for the aftermath of weekends where that “heathen” Hess was perhaps the only clickbait that didn’t involve a Super Bowl where their version of a burger cost $180 that was able to rise above the fray that we are particularly celebratory for anything that can allow us to, if only momentarily, escape back into a time and demeanor where we were way more naive and pure about fandom than we have devolved into. Today is one such opportunity to do so with three little words:
Pitchers and catchers.
Sure, every sport has a pre-season, and I dare say we’ve written eloquently about both pro and college football and basketball training camps that become the de facto kickoffs and tipoffs to several ensuing months of excitement and passion. But they occur when the majority of the country is sweltering and, frankly, becoming more than a little bored by the seemingly interminable baseball season. And the fact of the matter is that unless you have developed an appetite for the sport at an early age you are all the more likely to simply not care at all. Fact is, while there are still exceptions out there whose desire to bond with a well-intentioned dad may bring down the median age of those who do pay attention, the span and intensity of the plurality of fans under 50 are ephemeral and tepid at best.
Still, it’s on this special day, mere hours after the final gun of the Super Bowl, that whatever degree of fandom one may possess is heightened, especially if you happen to be in a colder climate. Your favorite website or, in the rare cases where they may still exist your back page, are posting images like this 
of sunshine and hope–a rebirth and renaissance in every sense of the word. Forget the fact that it actually might not be all that idyllic–there’s rain forecast for later this week in Arizona and Florida evenings are downright cold by their lofty standards. They’re still likely doing better than you are.
I know that when I was growing up schlepping through sub-freezing temperatures and frequent snow and ice I’d actually get misty-eyed seeing the reports being filed from spring training sites and the numerous stories that would be filed by the grateful sportswriters and sportscasters who were given the chance to escape all of what I was enduring to get some throwaway quote from a journeyman reliever. It was a sobering reminder that despite all of what we had endured both in the moment and in the wake of another disappointing summer (even you Dodger fans do recall you had a three-decade-plus drought of your own not all that long ago) we had somehow made it to this point again, where everyone is unbeaten and for the most part brimming with optimism.
So we’re particularly giddy when the likes of CBS SPORTS’ Mike Axisa provides this handy guide as he did yesterday that calls to action the fan bases of the Braves, Giants, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, White Sox and Rangers that today is officially your first day to dredge your gear out of mothballs and celebrate. And you can look forward to more stories like the one that THE ATHLETIC’s Jim Bowden, who as an executive lost to all of them at one point, dropped this morning that reminds us that the longer we keep at this, we can still get some surprises:
This spring training feels extra special, as we begin the season with so many new and engaging storylines. For instance, I can’t wait to see how the spring camps are run for the three franchises now being led by managers who have never managed — or even coached — professionally at any level. How will they set-up their camps?
Early in the offseason, the San Francisco Giants replaced Bob Melvin — who has more than two decades of MLB managerial experience — with Tony Vitello, the former head coach at the University of Tennessee. Vitello is the first manager hired directly from a collegiate program without prior experience coaching professionally.
Vitello arrives in professional baseball with an impressive resume. He had eight highly successful seasons at Tennessee, including winning the 2024 NCAA Championship. However, he has never gone through a major-league spring training and has never experienced a 162-game schedule. How will he adjust to the professional game? Spring training will give us our first clues.
It isn’t just new players and coaches we have to look forward to this season. We are on the verge of the ABS challenge system being implemented in the regular season at the major-league level for the first time and it will be fascinating to see how that plays out.
Bowden continued with a lengthy list of other novelties and innovations that will be officially unveiled over the next six weeks, some more significant than others. Some of the ones he’s detailed may not even make the trek to more northernly climates late next month. And yeah, some of those actual spring training games have actually become prohibitively costly in their own right. The several New York Mets online groups I belong to are up in arms about the possibility of paying $9 for a slice of Port St. Lucie pizza that’s nothing like what one can get at Citi Field and well over $100 a ticket to see games with the Yankees that ultimately DO NOT COUNT.
But at least for the next 10 days there’s no admission cost and I’m willing to bet substantially cheaper eats to see players in uniform and experience at least a little bit of what has Bowden all a-twitter:
It’s that time of year; I just got back from the drug store with my brand new bottle of SPF 60 sunscreen, and as I do every spring training, I’ve purchased a new pair of overpriced sunglasses to wear at the parks in February and March. This is my annual spring training tradition, one I’ve maintained for decades, as the purchases are a signal to me that a new MLB season is upon us.
I feel you, Jim. And if nothing else I’ll be joining you in spirit with my own newly purchased shades. Trust me, my friend, there are bargains out there if you’re willing to, well, play ball and do a little homework. Maybe if you had done more of that while you were an employee you might be still be the interviewee rather than the interviewer.
Ahh, but that’s rhetoric best saved for the dog days of summer. Let’s all put those petty grievances aside and enjoy days like today while we still can. And for you fans of those who take the field today, I tip my cap. Your summer has now officially begun.
Courage…