As I get itchy for the start of the 2024 baseball season, I have been thinking back to the jump I got on this past 2023 baseball season by finally taking a long-desired trip to Arizona for a week of spring training baseball. As a lifelong baseball nerd (with a significant pause to recover from the loss of my Montreal Expos in the early 2000s) I had long thought about spending a week of lazy days under the spring sun in Florida or Arizona, going from park to park to get a close up view of the game I love. With my move to Saskatchewan eight years ago, Arizona became a more obvious choice for this trip and last year at long last I made it a reality.

Not only was this a trip to see Spring Training and a way to escape a week of winter back home, I timed it to coincide with some World Baseball Classic games in Phoenix so I could experience cheering on Team Canada on foreign soil. With a jam-packed itinerary of games, I found a cute little guesthouse to rent in Tempe, packed my bags, and made my way south in mid-March.

For my first game I drove out to Mesa for an afternoon Cubs-Brewers game at Sloan Park. The Cubs are so popular that they sell-out their 14,000 seat stadium and the prices for the games rival regular season games. Luckily I bought my ticket early and had a lovely seat in the shade for a great afternoon of baseball.

On my way out of the park I unexpectedly ran into this guy – Clark, the mascot for the Cubs. He’d end up being the first of three big league mascots I’d grab a picture with in 2023!

The next day was a smoking hot one. I made the quick drive to the other side of Tempe to Diablo Stadium for an Angels-Mariners game. This stadium had much more of a minor league vibe compared to the Cubs’ park. While walking around pre-game rocking my Montreal Expos hat, I saw a man wearing a 1982 All-Star Game t-shirt from the one time it was hosted in Montreal. I told him I loved his shirt, and he and his son and I had a great chat (in French!) about our love of baseball, our respective trips to Arizona and our memories of the Expos.

For this game I had snagged a prime seat behind the plate and loved getting to watch Robby Ray of the Mariners pitch for a couple of innings.

That evening, I headed into downtown Phoenix for a WBC game between Team USA and Team Canada. While I had toured Chase Field on a previous trip to the city, this was the first time being inside for a game. The opportunity to watch so many great American ballplayers was amazing and while I did not expect Canada to win this game, I was hoping for something more competitive than what happened. A 19 year old pitcher got totally hammered by the American line-up for 9 runs in the first inning.

Not deterred, when Canada hit a home run in the 2nd inning I was on my feet cheering while the people sitting around me smiled at my dedication. That was my only celebrating as the US clubbed out a 12-1 win.

One of my Spring Training days got rained out, but luckily for me, the retractable roof stadium downtown was host to a Canada-Mexico game. I bought the cheapest last second ticket on sale, and momentarily went to my seat own the right field line. With the small crowd of about 17,000 on hand, I found a better upper deck seat for the rest of the game.

Canada kept this game close for a while before Mexico pulled away late for a 10-3 lead. As the lead grew, you could see Mexico’s left-fielder Randy Arozarena signing autographs during every pitching change. As the tournament went on, he did this every game.

On the last day of my visit, I drove out to Scottsdale to what I thought was a beautiful ballpark – Salt River Fields. The 11,000 seat park had amazing sightlines, wide concourses and a gorgeous setting.

I had a prime seat for the afternoon matchup between the Rockies and the Padres. This was the best ball game I attended. There were great defensive plays, strong pitching and some deep home runs onto the grass beyond the left-field fence. This is an action shot of one of the two runners that were thrown out at home.

The trip lived up to everything I hoped it would be (save for that one day of rainouts). Feeling the sun on my skin while sitting in a ballpark after a long Saskatchewan winter was a dream come true.