Spring has nearly sprung

Baseball is back on Friday of this week with the National League Phillies playing Florida State University in the Grapefruit League and the Diamondbacks playing your San Francisco Giants in the Cactus League. Players have loosened up at spring training for many years through playing in these two competitions. Florida’s Grapefruit League and the Cactus League played out in Arizona, see teams from both leagues of Major League Baseball descend on warmer climes.

Ten different venues in Arizona will be used by 15 teams to play well over 150 games. The teams spend approximately two months literally getting in to the swing of things, and coaches can run the rule over rookies and returning players alike. Baseball fans travel to see their teams play these exhibition games and shake off the winter blues. Historically teams have set up camp in the parts of the USA that get the best of the February and March weather, and where you decide to stay has determined who you play. For example, this spring, the American League Rays and Yankees will be matching-up against the National League’s Braves and Cardinals.

These games and leagues are not a guide for upcoming form although in 2010 the leagues were topped by the Giants and the Tampa Bay Rays, who both went on to have very succesful seasons. The Giants of course won the World Series last year. But the Texas Rangers who were besten in that World Series were at the bottom of the Arizona league during spring training last year.

Regardless, we get to see the rookies, and we get to see which players could be the ones to watch in the early part of the season. And whilst the games mean very little, they do mean that competitive baseball is just around the corner.