Champion Dodgers, World Baseball Classic will be big spring training draws this year

Spring training baseball is returning to the Valley soon, with the first games of 2026 scheduled for Feb. 20. Cactus League officials held a press conference Thursday at Camelback Ranch-Glendale, where the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers train, to highlight the upcoming season.

The Cactus League is one of Arizona’s biggest attractions, drawing fans from all over the world and hundreds of millions of dollars into the state economy. But attendance took a severe hit over a three-year stretch beginning in 2020, because of the COVID pandemic and a labor lockout.

Attendance has been steadily climbing ever since, and last year the league drew nearly 1.7 million fans — the most since before COVID.

This year, national teams from the World Baseball Classic will be part of the action, playing exhibition games against major league squads.

“Fans in Arizona have the opportunity to see not just Team USA, who's training in the Valley, but major leaguers, minor leaguers, international players from all over the world here,” said Matt Slatus, the General Manager of Camelback Ranch Glendale. “It's one more thing that makes this 2026 Cactus League season so special.”

The Dodgers are the first Cactus League team to be back-to-back World Series champions since the Oakland Athletics won three straight from 1972 to 1974.

An automated ball-strike system returns for the 2026 season after being tested in spring training last year. The camera system allows teams to instantly challenge umpires’ calls.

And for the first time since 1951, the New York Yankees — who conduct their spring training in Florida’s Grapefruit League — will be making an appearance. They’ll face the Chicago Cubs for a two- game series at Mesa’s Sloan Park to close the exhibition season on March 23-24.

“It's up close. It's personal. It's intimate. Bring a pen, bring a baseball. Come and get an autograph. You may walk home with Shohei Ohtani's autograph,” Slatus said. “To me, that is what spring training is all about.”