With the announcement of the 2025 Florida Spring Training schedules, it’s a reminder of the Sunshine State’s pivotal role in the annual Major League Baseball season.
The first record of Major League Baseball teams coming south for pre-season preparation dates back to 1888, when the Washington Senators held pre-season workouts in Jacksonville.
Teams came and went into the 20th century until the 1920s when things started taking root in the Tampa Bay area. Florida established itself as a desirable locale for baseball until the 1940s when travel restrictions prevented teams from traveling a certain distance from home during World War II.
Baseball returned to Florida in March in 1946 and has been thriving since. In the 1990s, over 20 teams held spring training in Florida.
The Florida Grapefruit League provides fans a chance to welcome back their favorite players as well as take a look at their future favorite players. The 12 Florida communities hosting Major League Baseball Spring Training benefit from the economic impact when the teams and their fans flock to Florida during the best time of the year.
Visit www.floridagrapefruitleague.com to see the schedules and insightful ballpark information for all 15 Florida Grapefruit League teams. More insightful information follows. Enjoy and Play Ball!
Atlanta Braves – CoolToday Park, North Port
The 2025 season will be the Braves sixth full season at this location.
Original Florida residency in 1906 as Boston Braves, in Jacksonville. Has been a full-time Florida resident since 1946 and during Milwaukee Braves days.
FUN FACT: CoolToday Park is the home of the Superior Pools Tomahawk Tiki Bar & Grill! Open Tuesday through Sunday, and closed on Mondays, offering live music and other events year round.
Baltimore Orioles – Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota
The 2025 season will mark the Orioles 16th Spring Training at Ed Smith Stadium.
Original Florida residence in 1914 as the St. Louis Browns, in St. Petersburg. Has been a full-time Florida residence since 1959.
FUN FACT: Michael Jordan was a member of the 1994 Chicago White Sox and spent Spring Training at Ed Smith Stadium.
Boston Red Sox – Jet Blue Park, Fort Myers
The 2025 season will mark the Red Sox 33rd Spring Training in Fort Myers, and 14th year at Jet Blue Park.
Original Florida residence in 1919 in Tampa. Has been a full-time Florida resident since 1966.
FUN FACT: JetBlue Park has its own Green Monster and fans can purchase tickets in a covered area or on top in full sunlight.
Detroit Tigers – Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, Lakeland
2025 season marks the Tigers 89th Spring Training in Lakeland and 60th at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium
Original Florida residence in 1930 in Tampa. Has been a full-time Florida resident, in Lakeland, since 1934.
FUN FACT: The Tigers and the City of Lakeland have the longest-standing relationship between a major league team and a current spring training city, dating back to 1934.
Houston Astros – CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
The 2025 season marks the Astros ninth Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1964 in Cocoa Beach. Has been a full-time Florida resident since that time. The West Palm Beach location is the third residence for the Astros, having spent 1985-2016 in Kissimmee at Osceola County Stadium
FUN FACT: Astros second baseman, Jose Altuve, is the only current player on Houston’s roster to have played at Osceola County Stadium, having broken into the big leagues in 2011.
Miami Marlins – Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, Jupiter
The 2025 season will be the Marlins 23rd Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1993 in Cocoa Beach. Has been a full-time Florida resident for the full existence of the franchise.
FUN FACT: After the 2002 season, the Marlins and then Montreal Expos swapped spring training sites. The Marlins went from Space Coast Stadium, in Viera, to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, in Jupiter. The Expos went from Jupiter to Viera and became the Washington Nationals in 2005.
Minnesota Twins – Lee Health Sports Complex, Fort Myers
The 2025 season will mark the Twins 35th Spring Training at this location. The stadium was built in 1991.
Original Florida residence in 1920 as the Washington Senators in Tampa. Has been a full-time Florida resident since 1936 when the Senators/Twins played in Orlando’s Tinker Field.
FUN FACT: The Lee Health Sports Complex is a great location to see players up close on the fields to the left of the front of Hammond Stadium. Besides the action on the field, there’s batting cages, pitching bullpens, and the path by which players walk to and from the practice fields. You’ll see a lot of people hanging around by 10 AM or so. The walk up to the front gate of Hammond Stadium is a must see lined with palm trees.
New York Mets – Clover Field, Port St. Lucie
The 2025 season marks the Mets 38th Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1962, at Al Lang Field, in St. Petersburg. The Mets have been a full time resident of Florida since the club’s inception in 1962.
FUN FACT: The Mets and Sports Illustrated teamed up for a legendary April Fools’ Day sports hoax during the 1985 spring training season in St. Petersburg. In its April 1, 1985 edition, the sports weekly featured the “Curious Case of Sidd Finch,” was an eccentric mystic, who was predicted to “change the course of baseball history.” His fastball was rumored to have been clocked at 168 miles per hour.
New York Yankees – George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa
The 2025 season marks the Yankees 29th Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1919, in Jacksonville. The Yankees have been a full time resident of Florida since 1952.
FUN FACT: George M. Steinbrenner Field is a must-see location for Yankees fans. The ballpark is a shrine to the history of the New York Yankees. Walking into the stadium’s front gates, fans can see the retired numbers of Yankees of the past. Walking into the stadium from the concourse, each entry has a decade worth of history beginning in the early 1900s through today.
Philadelphia Phillies – BayCare Ballpark, Clearwater
The 2025 season will mark the Phillies 79th Spring Training in Clearwater and the 21st at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1915, in St. Petersburg. The Phillies have been a full time resident of Florida since 1947 and have called Clearwater home since 1947.
FUN FACT: The Phillies and BayCare Ballpark were innovators in Florida Spring Training stadium design with the first 360 degree walk around the park. Other stadiums followed after the opening of the facility in 2004.
Pittsburgh Pirates -LECOM Park, Bradenton
The 2025 season is the Pirates 57th Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1918, in Jacksonville. The Pirates have been a full time resident of Florida since 1954 and have called Bradenton home since 1959.
FUN FACT: The Pirates have been a trendsetter in Florida Spring Training with their Pirate City Complex, a baseball-campus located east of the LECOM Park site, where games are played. All spring training workouts are held at the Pirate City facility and features living quarters for players.
St. Louis Cardinals – Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, Jupiter
The 2025 season will be the Cardinals 28th Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1914, in St. Augustine. The Cardinals have been a full time resident of Florida since 1927, and played in St. Petersburg from 1938 to 1997.
FUN FACT: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium was the first two-team facility in Major League Baseball Spring Training with its debut in 1998. Since that time six facilities have followed the example of the Jupiter spring training facility (One in Florida, Five in Arizona).
Tampa Bay Rays – Charlotte Sports Park, Port Charlotte
The 2025 season will mark the Rays 17th Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1993, in the legendary Al Lang Field, in St. Petersburg. The Rays were the final Major League Baseball team to occupy the downtown St. Petersburg stadium, playing their final season in 2008.
FUN FACT: The Texas Rangers played at the Charlotte Sports Park from 1987-2002.
Toronto Blue Jays – TD Ballpark, Dunedin
The 2025 season will mark the Blue Jays 49th Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1977. The Blue Jays first game in franchise history was played in Dunedin, when the location was named Grant Field. The Blue Jays have called the Dunedin ballpark home since their inception in 1977. It’s the most years of any team being in one location for the team’s existence in Major League Baseball.
FUN FACT: Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, played high school baseball at the Blue Jays Spring Training home, as a member of the Dunedin High School baseball team.
Washington Nationals – CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
The 2025 season marks the Nationals eighth Spring Training at this location.
Original Florida residence in 1969, the club’s first year of existence as the Montreal Expos, in West Palm Beach. The Expos/Nationals have been Florida residents since that time.
FUN FACT: Since the complex opened in 2017, CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches has produced a World Series winner for both of its occupants. The Washington Nationals started their Championship Season of 2019 in West Palm Beach, as did the Houston Astros in 2022.