Report: MLB looking to have spring training at home ballparks
Apr 30, 2020, 3:38 PM | Updated: 3:38 pm
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Arizona Diamondbacks could potentially find themselves playing spring training games at Chase Field, not Salt River Fields, according to a new report.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote Thursday that MLB is eyeing having spring training games in teams’ normal regular season ballparks instead of their spring training facilities, should the season resume. At least, team executives told Nightengale they’re preparing for that possibility.
Nightengale said the idea is to save money and time, and the spring training “camps” would last three weeks leading up to a regular season.
As the story in USA Today points out, spring training sites have multiple fields instead of just the one that stadiums have. The advantage of that is playing backfield games and having squad workouts while roster limits are expanded to evaluate talent. Teams use that valuable resource to whittle down their rosters to the allotted 26 players.
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On interesting wrinkle from the report: Teams would mostly play intrasquad games — games where a single team is divided into two groups that play each other — although teams that share a city such as New York or Chicago could play another organization.
The latest reported proposal for MLB to resume its season involved having the 30-team sport divided into three 10-team divisions, doing away with the National League and American League. This would limit travel as teams would be divided regionally.
