Top five reasons to watch Spring Training

After what felt like forever, baseball is finally back on Thursday. It’s not Opening Day, but Spring Training will kick off with the Cubs facing the Dodgers. For diehard baseball fans, that’s amazing news.

To other fans, Spring Training is just a bunch of scrimmages with no importance whatsoever. They’ll watch one or two games to satisfy their baseball needs until Opening Day, and that’s it.

Truly, Spring Training is more than that. There are so many reasons to enjoy baseball over February and March until Opening Day, and here are the top five.

5. Fun hats and different stadiums

One thing lots of fans look forward to about Spring Training is watching baseball in Florida and Arizona where it’s super warm instead of their freezing hometowns. What makes it even better is the different stadiums.

Steinbrenner Field is a classic one, looking like Yankee Stadium, but south (and with a really large scoreboard in left-center). Spectrum Field, the Phillies stadium, has a bar in left field that always gets pelted with home runs.

The Rockies and Diamondbacks share Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the top-rated Spring Training stadium according to Ballparkratings.com, featuring grass seating in left and right field and stadium seats in center field. The stadium's vibe is also elite, selling the fact that they’re playing in the middle of the desert in Arizona with cacti and other plants throughout the stadium.

In addition, Spring Training brings new hat designs for every team that are only worn during that time. This year, the designs are pretty sweet. The Mets hat is orange with a blue brim, and Mr. Met is wearing sunglasses as the logo. The Pirates brought back their buccaneer logo on an all-black hat, and the Cubs are rocking baby blue as the main color and the bear logo.

4. Answering glaring questions about your favorite team

Every year, teams have questions to answer heading into the regular season. Even the Dodgers, whose question most likely is, “Can they repeat as champion, and how many games can they win doing it?”

Others include what the Padres will do after having front-office turmoil in the offseason, whether the Rangers can stay healthy, and more. Spring Training is where these questions get answered.

By giving prospects a chance, inviting free agents with non-roster invites (meaning they can get cut no problem if they don’t make the final roster), and more, teams can see how they want to alter their roster and test things to see if they can have the best roster possible to answer these tough questions and doubts and make the playoffs.

3. Figuring out who’s struggling, breaking out, or bouncing back

In 2021, Ty France was looking to become a starter on a major league roster for the first time in his career after playing no more than 69 games in a season in his first four years. In Spring Training that year with the Mariners, France hit five home runs in 19 games while posting a 1.135 OPS.

He would go on to be a 4.4 WAR player in the regular season, following that season with an all-star nod in 2022. Watching Spring Training also allows you to see players like France break out and become potential superstars.

It also can help with evaluating which players are set for a bounce-back 2025 after a disappointing 2024 and other players who are heading for a down year after struggling in the Spring. Being able to see this unfold will make it much clearer as to what the team’s needs will be at the trade deadline or which players will have a strong year in fantasy baseball.

2. Watching your team’s prospects

One of the best parts of Spring Training is that teams will often add all kinds of prospects, especially top ones to their rosters. Seven of the top ten MLB prospects have been invited to their team’s Spring Training rosters, with Detroit’s Max Clark, Minnesota’s Walker Jenkins and Cleveland’s Travis Bazzanna being the only three that didn’t.

Being able to see prospects gives fans a glimpse into how bright their future is by seeing what their prospects are capable of. Last year, Yankee fans got to see Spencer Jones smash home runs, and Pirates fans got to get a small taste of Paul Skenes before he debuted later in the year and more.

Seeing MLB-ready prospects is always interesting too, as they have a good chance of taking a starting spot if they play well enough. The Boston Red Sox are a current example of this, with Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell looking to potentially find starting spots this year.

1. Seeing old faces in new places

This offseason was crazy with all kinds of interesting signings and trades. Juan Soto signed a massive contract with the Mets, Max Fried is a Yankee, Alex Bregman just signed with the Red Sox recently, Josh Naylor got traded to the Diamondbacks where he joins their big free agent signing in Corbin Burnes and so much more.

Spring Training is where fans can get their first taste of their favorite offseason signings and moves in their new digs. Getting to see these acquisitions perform well in spring is always a great sign for the season to come and a feel-good moment to see that the move will work out.

It’s also just as interesting to watch how well some of these other players perform in with their new teams and get an idea of whether or not the change of scenery means better performance from them or much of the same.

Overall, Spring Training is so much more than just players getting ready for the season. It’s a great way to prepare yourself for the season and also enjoy some baseball and sun from the comfort of your cold winter home.

Dylan Sechrist is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dks5749@psu.edu.