My annual March Spring Training trip has looked a little different the past few years. The last time I actually went out to Arizona for a few days in the Phoenix valley with the Cactus League was back in 2023. In 2024, I went to a local Rays game and then a single game in Goodyear with my wife as part of a Vegas trip instead. Last year, project deadlines at work forced me to cancel the trip out west altogether, but I managed to squeeze in a single Rays game again to keep my attendance streak alive. After last year’s trip was cancelled, I vowed to make the 2026 trip an epic one and finalized travel plans and accomodations in Arizona late last fall in anticipation of going. And then I changed jobs in December and started with zero PTO and an upcoming trip that required 8 vacation days. Oops! Luckily my manager was understanding of the prior plans and I was able to work things out so I’d still be able to go. So let’s do some spring baseball!

Day 1 – Tuesday, March 10

Tuesday morning, I took an early flight out of Tampa to Sky Harbor, landing just after 9:00am PDT. My first game wasn’t until 1:00pm and I couldn’t check into the AirBnB until 4:00pm, so I took my time at the airport after getting my luggage, changing into baseball clothes, and picking up the rental car. My AirBnB host said it would be no problem to park the car at the house early so eventually I drove over to Goodyear, picked up some sunscreen and bottled water at Target, then parked and walked over to Goodyear Ballpark to see the Guardians and Giants (game #1).

Despite a bottom of the 9th inning rally, the Guardians lost 5-4 (I also almost got a monster foul ball hit into right field but as I was chasing it down a Giants fan shoved me so I fell and he grabbed it instead. The dude laughed in my face like a grade school bully (WTH?) but none of the stadium staff saw the incident and I just let it go, ugh). The game ended just before 4pm so by the time I walked back to the house I was able to “check in” and got settled in for the week, including setting up my laptop and workspace for tomorrow (yes, I had to work remotely to save on those vacation days). I also ran out to pick up some groceries and grabbed dinner at Freddy’s.

Day 2 – Wednesday, March 11

Flying out west always takes some time to adjust to Pacific time (Arizona doesn’t observe DST so it’s three hours behind Florida) but I forced myself to get to bed “early” last night since I had to be up at 4:30am local time to align my working hours with my colleagues in Eastern time. But that meant I was done with work at 2:00pm so I walked over to the ballpark, bought a general admission ticket (at the ticket window, I’ve never done that before!) to the Reds/Brewers game (game #2). It was the 5th inning by the time I got over there but I still got to spend a few hours enjoying afternoon baseball and saw the Reds win 6-3. For dinner later I drove over to Oregano’s in Goodyear, had a pizza at the bar, and realized I had gone to another one of these restaurants here in the valley back in 2019 with my siblings (I thought I was trying a new place).

Day 3 – Thursday, March 12

Today’s game was an evening one, so I had the entire day to myself. No alarm set, I planned to sleep in, but the early morning Arizona sun woke me up at 7:30am so I decided to take a morning hike. In the past my siblings and I have hiked Camelback Mountain, Piestewa Peak, the South Mountain Preserve, and Hole in the Rock but this year, staying in Goodyear, I was just minutes from the Estrella Mountain Regional Park so I drove over there for some solo hiking. The park was almost completely empty, I only saw one or two other people on the trails (which is good and bad, I guess), but as usual the views on my 2 hour, 4 mile hike were spectacular. On the way back to the house, I tried stopping at Estrella Star Tower which looked cool but is actually just part of an upscale housing community and had signs all over about “no trespassing” and “residents only” so I just bought a small iced coffee at the shop in the welcome center (really the sales center) and moved on.

After cleaning up at the house (with leftover pizza for lunch), I drove across the valley to Mesa and the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum at Falcon Field (I really wanted to go to the Titan Missile Museum but wouldn’t have had the time to drive all the way there and back … maybe next year!). The museum has an amazing collection of airplanes, helicopters, and other historical Air Force items from the area. They still fly a B17 Flying Fortress, a C47 Skytrain, and several other vintage aircraft. I totally would have done a B17 flight but they weren’t flying that day. On my way back across the valley to Goodyear, I got stuck in Phoenix rush hour traffic but still managed to get home, change, and walk over to the stadium for the Guardians and Brewers (game #3). It was a beautiful evening for baseball and from my seat a few rows behind home plate I watched the Guardians win 1-0 (the only run was a solo homer in the 1st inning).

Day 4 – Friday , March 13

Friday the 13th! Today my sister was joining me from Seattle so I drove over to Sky Harbor, picked her up, and went back to the house so she could clean up and settle in. Then it was back into the car and over to Tempe Diablo Stadium to see the Guardians take on the Angels (game #4). The weather forecast for this week had the high temps climbing to the low 90s and Diablo Stadium was living up to its name. Our seats were in full sun and it was hot. We had to spend a few innings up under the shade trying to get a breeze and cool off as our seats didn’t get any shade until the 9th inning. The temps were hot but the Guardians bats were not and they lost 5-2.

After the game, we drove over to O.H.S.O. Brewery in Arcadia to meet one of my sister’s colleagues (and her husband) for a few hours of drinks, snacks, and socializing. On the way back to the AirBnB, we stopped at In-and-Out (my sister’s favorite) in Goodyear for a dinner of burgers and fries (hey, I’m on vacation, so I’m eating what I want 🙂 ). I cannot believe how long the drive-thu line was but I guess that’s like Chik-fil-A back home in terms of popularity.

Day 5 – Saturday, March 14

The weekend! I attempted to sleep in again but that morning sun through the windows woke me up early. Once my sister was up we walked over to the Guardians Player Development Complex to see if we could catch any workouts or batting practice. We were a little late, so most of the players were already gone (or elsewhere) and we were the only ones there, but we did get to watch an interesting workout for the outfields using small rubber balls they had to catch barehanded. One of them also (accidentally?) threw a baseball over the fence that I was able to snag, so that made up for the lost ball/shoving incident on Tuesday.

With practice over, we walked back to the house and then drove up to Peoria (listening on the radio as my Dayton Flyers pulled off an amazing last-second comeback, beating the #1 seed St. Louis Billikens 70-69 and advancing to the A10 Championship game against VCU tomorrow). The Guardians faced the San Diego Padres (game #5) at the Peoria Sports Complex and today the park was prepared for the high temperatures, adding giant cooling fans in the concourse and also misters in the outfield tented areas. Once again, though, Cleveland lost 8-5.

We drove back to the house, cleaned up and changed, and then headed back to Tempe for our traditional last evening dinner at Rustler’s Rooste. As usual, the place was packed with tourists (and little league teams, apparently) so even with my call-ahead seating reservation I had made back in January, we had to wait about 30 minutes. Not a problem though as we grabbed margaritas from the bar and sat listening to the band and even chatted with a few other patrons who were visiting the restaurant for the first time. Our table was downstairs this year, near the band and dance floor, so that was a fun change. The food was excellent (and plentiful!) as usual (birthday cake-flavored cotton candy!) and we were sad we couldn’t take any leftovers since we had to check out of the AirBnB tomorrow morning. Back at the house after dinner, we packed, cleaned, and prepped to leave tomorrow.

Day 6 – Sunday, March 15

Last day in Phoenix. We actually set an alarm and woke up early so we could get breakfast at the Black Bear Diner (another trip tradition) before the Sunday morning crowds. Then we went back to the AirBnB, did our final cleanup and packing, then “checked out” and drove over to the Player Development Complex for batting practice again. This time we were on time (and there were more fans present) but were unsuccessful in shagging any homerun balls that went over the outfield fence. Some fans must have paid for an experience package since they were actually in the outfield getting to shag the fly balls, which looked like fun. I was also keeping tags on the Flyers in the A10 Tournment championship, but unfortunately they lost to VCU, 70-62. No NCAA tournament again for them this year. 🙁

Once practice was over, we drove across the way to the ballpark (the first time we actually parked at the stadium) and spent some time before the Guardians/A’s game (game #6!) checking out the merch in the team store, grabbing drinks at the right field bar, and enjoying the Cactus League atmosphere for one last time this spring season. Our seats this time were a table beneath the scoreboard in left field, which was a unique experience. A homerun ball came into our section but a group at a different table were able to get the ball first.

This was the best game we saw on our trip as the Guardians’ offense finally came alive scoring 4 runs in the first inning and another 4 in the sixth. Unfortunately we had to leave early in the 8th inning to get to the airport but Cleveland was leading the Athletics 12-6 and as we listened on the radio during the drive that turned out to be the final score. We returned the rental car, took the Skytrain to the terminal, checked our bags, and made it through TSA in just a few minutes (despite the increasing delays at other airports due to the partial government shutdown).

So week 1 is done, but there’s more to come: I’m flying to Seattle with my sister for some spring hockey!