How to Locate Games in the Grapefruit League

The Grapefruit League is not really a major league baseball league but the informal name given to the spring-training exhibition schedule for teams that hold the pre-season camps in Florida. The games there involve 18 different major leagues, from both the American and the National League. Each team plays a full schedule of about 35 full squad and split-squad games between late February and late March.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Map of Florida

1. Choose your favorite baseball teams from the Grapefruit League, and group them together by the general area of the states in which they play. Six teams hold spring training on the Atlantic Coast, eight on the Gulf Coast and four at inland or Central-Florida locations.
2. Plan to base your spring training trip somewhere between Ft. Myers and the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area if your favorite teams play most of their games on the Gulf Coast. These teams include the Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, Reds and Phillies.
3. Locate a hotel in a Gold-Coast location, such as Ft. Lauderdale or Palm Beach if you follow the Orioles, Dodgers, Mets or Cardinals.
4. Choose Orlando or surrounding communities as your hub of activities if you plan to attend games in Central Florida with the Tigers, Braves, Astros or Indians.
5. Use the master schedule at the Spring Training Online website to find Grapefruit League games for your favorite teams in these areas (see Resources below).
6. Click on a team's link on the Spring Training Online websitee to locate the exact street address of the ballparks in which the games will be played (see Resources below).
7. Use a Florida map or paste each ballpark's street address into Google Maps to locate the games and get driving directions from your hotel (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Several teams may be contemplating spring-training exhibitions or early regular-season tours during coming seasons, so make sure you verify that your favorite Grapefruit League teams will actually be in Florida before you commit resources to a spring-training trip.
• Don't underestimate the time, expense and drudgery involved in making a road trip across the state to follow your team if it is traveling a significant distance. You could tie up five or six hours, and you might not feel like you are still on vacation by the time you arrive back at your hotel that evening.