Another year, another trip to Spring Training in Arizona. It's hard to believe that this was our third time watching preseason baseball in the desert. I feel like we were just there for the first time, fresh off the Greyhound bus from Los Angeles. Every single year, we learn something new about attending these games, so I thought that I'd share some tips that I've picked up over the past few years, as well as write a little recap of my trip.

This time around, I decided that I'd had enough of the Greyhound. You can only sit on a bus for so many hours before you decide to shell out the extra money on different means of transportation. I rented a car from the website Turo and overall, I spent $255 on a car (with insurance) for five days. Having the freedom to drive myself places made it completely worthwhile. I would definitely suggest bringing your car or renting one because the stadiums are all spread out. Parking is either free or $5, so that isn't an issue.

I arrived in Phoenix, Arizona in the afternoon on Thursday, March 15th. We started our 2018 Spring Training adventure with the Giants vs. Padres game that night at Peoria Sports Complex. Unfortunately, the Padres beat the Giants 9-7. I was watching live baseball for the first time in awhile though, so I was still in a good mood. 

The next day, we headed to Camelback Ranch to watch the Cubs play the White Sox. Now the White Sox share Camelback Ranch with the Dodgers, but I am happy to report that it is a lot nicer than Dodger Stadium. The Cubs beat the White Sox 6-3 and I didn't get sunburnt. Solid game.

On the third day, we split up and I headed to Scottsdale Stadium to watch the Giants play the A's on St. Patrick's Day. I decided to get to the game a little early to try and get autographs. I ended up having my baseball signed by Jeremy Affeldt, Gregor Blanco, and Mac Williamson.

Even though it's Spring Training, game tickets can still end up being expensive. For a lawn seat, I spent $51. I didn't want to sit on the lawn for this particular game, so I checked Stubhub to see what seats had not been sold, and I headed to that section. I ended up sitting in a $100+ seat at no additional cost and I had a great view for the game. I would suggest purchasing the cheapest ticket available and then sitting in an unsold seat. Unethical? Maybe. Worth it? Completely. I'm a broke college student, give me a break.

The last game that we attended was on Sunday. We went to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to watch the Giants play the Rockies. The Giants beat the Rockies 13-0 in an extremely uneventful game. However, I did get to see Madison Bumgarner pitch a fantastic game and there's nothing quite like watching a Bumgarner home run, so that was fun. And before the game began, I was even able to add a Hunter Pence autograph to my signed baseball. 

The Sunday game where the Giants play the Rockies in the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick stadium is the one game that we see every single year. I look forward to attending the same game again next year.

Spring Training is one of my favorite annual events and I'm so grateful that I'm able to experience it every year. The baseball season is about to begin, and I could not be more excited. Next week, I'm writing a post about the DH and the following week, I will write about the Giants' opening weekend in Los Angeles. As always, thanks for reading and I'm going to leave you with a few pictures that I took at Spring Training this year. Go Giants!