What you need to know about spring training
Pitchers and catchers expected to report around Feb. 16 or 17
The clock struck midnight and the calendar turned. Now the first full work week of the year has come and gone. Minds are starting to turn to spring.
For baseball fans, spring means mid- February, when MLB organizations report to their homes away from home to prepare for the upcoming season. But what will spring training look like in the middle of the pandemic? Here is what you need to know to get ready for baseball’s pre- season.
When does spring training start? The telltale sign of the start of spring is when pitchers and catchers report to camp. The Only three teams have officially announced reporting dates: Tampa Bay, Baltimore and the New York Mets. All three teams have their pitchers and catchers reporting either Feb. 16 or Feb. 17, with position players reporting either Feb. 21 or Feb. 22.
Blue Jays players will likely be required to report to their complex in Dunedin, Fla., around the same time. When does Grapefruit League
play begin? The 15- team league is expected to start Feb. 26,, with the first full slate of games the following day. The Jays will visit the Philadelphia Phillies to open their campaign. Game times have not yet been determined and the existing schedule, which includes 239 games over 33 days, is subject to change, according to the league’s website.
Toronto will wrap up its preseason schedule up on March 29, also against the Phillies, before opening the MLB season on April 1 at the New York Yankees.
Arizona’s Cactus League is scheduled to begin Feb. 27 and end March 30.
What is the COVID- 19 situation like in Florida and Arizona? Florida added 11,576 coronavirus cases on Monday, according to the Tampa Bay Times, with 2,367 new cases and 43 deaths in the county that encompasses the Jays complex. The state reported a one- day record of 19,816 new cases on Friday.
The owner of Amelia Arena in Tampa, where the Toronto Raptors are currently playing their home games, announced Saturday that a limited number of tickets, about 3,800 per game, would not be distributed until at least Feb. 5 because coronavirus cases in the area had “risen sharply.” Health experts told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the surge could continue for weeks because of a lack of restrictions, lagging efforts by people to practice social distancing and other safety measures, and the expected spread of a more contagious form of the virus.
Arizona ranked highest in the U. S. for its rate of new COVID cases, The Arizona Republic reported Monday. The state’s rate of new positive cases over the last seven days was 133.8 cases per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U. S. average for new cases was 73.8 per 100,000. So will spring training actually start on time? There were reports that suggested the possibility that spring training’s start would being pushed back to April, with the regular season beginning in May, to allow more MLB players and fans to get vaccinated. A delay could potentially increase the number of fans able to be in the stands, something both owners and players would likely welcome.
But date changes would require an agreement with the union, and the two sides aren’t in each others’ good books these days. So barring specific government intervention in Florida or Arizona, all signs point to spring training starting on time. The MLB Players Association told The Athletic earlier this month that players have “proven they can safely play a season under difficult circumstances.” Who among Jays players will attend? The Jays currently have a full 40- man roster, with the bulk of those players expected to report to spring training. Toronto has already extended spring invitations to nonroster infielders Richard Urena and Tyler White, outfielder Forrest Wall and reliever A. J. Cole, who signed a minor- league deal with the club last week.
It is unclear when minorleague players will report to spring training complexes. According to Baseball America, a memo sent to minor- league teams last week said spring training for double- A and class- A players will not begin until big- league and triple- A players have left for their regularseason assignments.