The spring rituals that have played out in the Cactus and Grapefruits leagues for decades will be repeated over the next month across Arizona and Florida, getting everyone prepared for seven or eight months of daily baseball games.
Pitchers stretch out their arms. Hitters get their timing down. Managers perfect their rosy soliloquies. And press box wags practice their waggery.
"Won't this season ever end?" Sun-Times baseball writer Joe Goddard used to shout from his press box seat during the first spring training game, officially ushering in the New Year.
The aura of spring training never changes, but more and more fans are now flocking to spring ballparks in both states, changing the vibe.
More than 4 million fans attended spring games last year, breaking the 2013 record, led by the Cubs' major-league record total of 222,415 at Sloan Park. It's no longer the sleepy, old spring game of the past, and with so many fans traveling such great distances and spending more on tickets and concessions, MLB is trying to ensure teams make these exhibitions more meaningful.
Last week in Phoenix, Commissioner Rob Manfred said MLB will be watching closely, knowing teams often leave their stars at home for spring games.
"There is a requirement that clubs have a representative complement of players at spring training games," Manfred said. "I've spoken to (MLB executive) Joe Torre about it. It is, in fact, something we monitor. We do in fact get after clubs when we believe the requirement has been violated, but I told Joe to take an extra amount of care on this issue during this spring training.
"I do understand that people travel, they spend money, the want to see a certain amount of players and we want to meet the reasonable expectations of our fans."
Four major-league players in the lineup is acceptable, although not every major-league player belongs in the majors, so teams without stars can appear guilty without really trying.
On the flip side, not all minor leaguers are created equal either. Last March the Cubs sent a lineup filled with rookies to Goodyear, Ariz., for a game against the Indians. But Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off Indians starter Trevor Bauer, giving fans a rare spring training moment they never will forget.
The only time there's really a problem is when the home team complains. It's more prevalent in Florida, where some trips can be four-hour drives, than Arizona, where most trips are an hour or less, depending on traffic.
Veterans often are accorded the courtesy of not having to go on long trips, one of the perks of being old (along with the millions they're paid).
While Cubs manager Joe Maddon won't have a problem having enough major-league players for road lineups, he recalled getting some reprimands from MLB while managing the Rays.
"It's more than playing against the opposition," Maddon said. "You're respecting the fans paying to come and see you. In the past, some of the teams I've been on, we just didn't have those guys. And you can't play everybody every day. You have to bring backups. You can always respect a veteran not traveling too far. That's accurate. That's true. I'm going to do the same thing here.
"But we have more young players who are regular major leaguers here. I don't anticipate us running into that problem. I totally get it, and I'm going to do everything we possibly can to make sure we have four guys in the lineup."
The baseball in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues may look similar, with starting players coming out after a couple at-bats and pitchers doing sprints in the outfield during games. But Maddon said the Grapefruit League has an "older vibe" thanks to classic parks like 50-year-old Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla., where the Tigers play.
"The big thing people complain about in Florida is the travel, which I really did not mind," Maddon said. "I kind of enjoyed getting on the bus, sitting in the front. Now that you have an iPad and earphones you can listen to music every day, read whatever you want to read."
In the end, it's all about getting ready for November, when you envision yourself playing in a World Series. Last year Maddon's team went 0-6-1 in their first seven games, but won 97 games and advanced to the National League Championship Series.
Still, it's easier to market hope with a winning spring record.
"If your record's good it means you've been playing pretty good baseball, that's pretty much how I look at it," Maddon said. "Gene Mauch used to (say) back in the day _ 'If you start slowly it's a bad start. If you do poorly in the middle that's a slump, and at the end you're choking.' So it's just how the baseball season plays.”
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