It’s become a family tradition to travel to San Diego Padres Spring Training. Other than in 2020, during the Covid shutdown, we’ve gone to Arizona in March for baseball. The last few times, we taken our travel trailer, Howie, and made a vacation of it, traveling beyond Phoenix after attending a few games. Our son Matthew arranges the tickets dates and we find a RV park near Peoria. We’ve were lucky finding three nights during this peak season in northern Phoenix.

Friday 08 March 2024 – San Francisco Giants vs San Diego Padres

We had tickets to Friday night’s SF Giants vs SD Padres game at their Peoria Sports Complex. The evening started well. That was short-lived because after the pre-game warm-ups and the National Anthem. The dark clouds rolled in and it started raining. We were hopeful the game would be delayed but still played. But after the lightning lit up the skies multiple times and the downpour started. It was obvious that the game was rained out.
Fortunately, we visited the team at the practice field the next and saw a day game against the Angels. Mike Trout is still with the Angels but Ohtani is now a Dodger. Seeing the up-and-coming players trying to make the team is always fun. Plus you get to see the veteran players up close, like pitcher Joe Musgrove or Fernando Tatis.

Practice Field before the game

One of the funnest things about Spring Training is visiting the practice fields at the Peoria Sports Complex before a game. It’s a great opportunity to see your favorite players up close and even get a hard-to-get autograph. If you travel to Spring Training, be sure to make it a point to go to practice. Note: if the game is away, players are gone early. So go when they have a home game.

Saturday 09 March 2024 – Chicago White Sox vs San Diego Padres

Thankfully, last night’s thunderstorm blew through and the Saturday day game at the Peoria Sports Complex was played. Usually, during the first five innings, the starting players are in. Then after the fifth inning, the newer players come into the game. New, unknown players trying to make the team or non-starting players get their time on the field.
Spring Training games are also a great opportunity to see NL or AL teams the Padres rarely play during the normal season.

Sunday 10 March 2024 – San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Angels

During Spring Training, the Padres have away games at other complexes in the Phoenix area. The Los Angeles Angels practice field, Diablo Stadium, is in Tempe, AZ.