Like they have every year since 2004, baseball fans will have the chance to see college baseball, as well as Major League Baseball spring training, in February and March. [Jason …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Surprise baseball fans received an early Christmas present last week — game times for the 2020 spring training schedule, the addition of a 30th game and the announcement of the annual college baseball tournament at Surprise Stadium.
The Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals will begin their 18th season in Surprise a day earlier than expected. The two “home” teams will square off in a charity game for the local Surprise Sundancers on Friday, Feb. 21, a day earlier than the season planned to open.
It’s one of the highlights of a now 30-game schedule, that features four night games and each Cactus League team making at least two appearances in Surprise.
Plus, for the 17th straight year, the City of Surprise will host a premier college baseball tournament to kick off the season when it announced Oregon State, New Mexico, Gonzaga and BYU will be part of the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic between Friday, Feb. 14 and Monday, Feb. 17 at Surprise Stadium.
It should make for a busy hotel season, Surprise Sports and Tourism Director Kendra Pettis said. Maricopa County hotel data shows the peak lodging season continues to be January through March each year, and Ms. Pettis said she expects to see the same trend this year as well.
Surprise hotels are expecting to have more availablility for a couple of reasons this year. Not only does the recently opened Hilton Garden Inn, 16601 N. Stadium Way, give travelers another option right around the stadium, but the Rangers are housing most of their players in the team’s new housing facility that’s still under construction on Bullard Avenue across from the stadium.
“This will create capacity for more visitors to stay in Surprise hotel properties during spring training, as well as year-round events such as tennis, pickleball and amateur baseball tournaments,” Ms. Pettis said. “The number of rooms that it opens will vary depending on the season.”
Fans will also have a new way to get around outside the stadium. The city began a six-month pilot program last week to allow e-scooters in the City Center area, and it will still be in effect during spring training.
“The e-scooters have the potential to make it easier for fans to get back and forth from our hotels, restaurants and attractions before and after games,” Ms. Pettis said. “The pilot program will allow the city to see how much use they are getting, how the rules within the temporary ordinance work in practice and to gather feedback.”
Spring training times set
The first batch of tickets for the 30-game spring training season go on sale online at 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. Those include season tickets, mini-plans, specialy packages and group sales.
Individual game tickets go on sale online Saturday, Nov. 16. A Spring Training Order Form will be available for download at SurpriseStadium.com beginning at 8 a.m.
Walk-up sales at the Surprise Stadium Box Office, 15960 N. Bullard Ave., will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 4.
Prices haven’t been set for the seating, but the following games are denoted as premium games (although all games are subject to “dynamic pricing”): Rangers vs. Chicago Cubs (Thursday, Feb. 27), Royals vs. San Francisco Giants (Friday, Feb. 28), Rangers vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (Sunday, March 8), Rangers vs. Giants (Wednesday, March 11), Royals vs. Dodgers (Tuesday, March 17) and Royals vs. Cubs (Wednesday, March 18).
The Royals-Dodgers contest is also one of four night games starting at 6:05 p.m. The others are Tuesday, March 3 (Royals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks), Monday, March 9 (Rangers vs. A’s) and Friday, March 13 (Rangers vs. Royals).
Just about every other game will have a 1:05 p.m. start, except the final one on Saturday, March 21, when the Royals and Rangers will play an hour earlier before breaking camp.
Ms. Pettis said many of the game promotions will be announced next month.
“We do know that the widely successful ‘Surprise Resident Nights’ and ‘Family Four Packs’ will make their return in 2020,” Ms. Pettis said.
The four-packs include four tickets, four hot dogs, four popcorns and four drinks for $44.
“Our team works hard each season to reach strategic sales goals that are set for not just our season tickets, but all of our ticket offerings — including group and mini packages,” Ms. Pettis said.
TV coverage will also be announced later. Ms. Pettis said the TV schedule is traditionally released sometime in late January or early February.
Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic
A week before the pros start, Oregon State will return for its four-team tournament at Surprise Stadium. The Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic will feature eight robin-games that include the four teams.
Individual tickets and tournament passes are now available for purchase online at SurpriseStadium.com. Single-game tickets are $15 for general admission, and an All-Tournament Pass, which is good for all eight games, is available for $50.
Seniors and students can also attend any game for $3. But that offer won’t be available by phone or in person at the Surprise Stadium Box Office until Jan 4.
All-tournament passes are also available for seniors and students at $40 per person.
To help encourage local fans to attend games, the city is offering the Surprise Resident Value Days for some of the college games as well. It gives special discounted pricing on select games — up to half off general admission tickets. Games on Feb. 15 have been designated as a Family Four Pack day as well.
The pricing doesn’t incude service charges and processing fees that most will likely be assessed for online and phone orders.
For information on the tournament, tickets, and additional events, visit SurpriseStadium.com or contact the Surprise Stadium Box Office at 623-222-2222.
Editor’s note: Jason Stone can be reached at (623) 445-2805, on email at jstone@newszap.com or on Twitter at @thestonecave. Visit yourvalley.net.
By 
