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Spring training
Surprise spring training slate to feature 30 games in 2025
Rangers, Royals to face off 5 times at Surprise Stadium
Independent Newsmedia/Jason Stone
The “home” Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals will face each other five times in the 2025 spring training season, including the season opener Feb. 21 and the finale March 22.
Surprise baseball fans have a little early to plan for the 2025 spring training season.
With games still six months away, Major League Baseball has released the upcoming spring Cactus League schedule, which features 30 games in 30 days at Surprise Stadium, starting Friday, Feb. 21.
The “home” Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals will each be the home team 15 times, but the Royals will be featured in 18 games, while the Rangers will play 17 of them since they play each other five times.
Most of the other 13 Cactus League teams will also make an appearance at Surprise Stadium, with most here at least twice. The Rockies will travel to Surprise three times, while the Brewers only make one stop this far northwest.
But two usual opponents, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners, won’t come to Surprise next spring. Both of those teams train in the West Valley.
Opening day is earlier than 2024 with Feb. 21 the date for the first game between the Rangers and Royals. The schedule will run every day through Saturday, March 22, when the Rangers and Royals face off for the fifth and final time of the spring.
The first outside opponent will be the San Francisco Giants, who come to Surprise to take on the Rangers on Saturday, Feb. 22.
In a scheduling quirk, the Chicago Cubs, traditionally one of the biggest draws in the Cactus League, will be in Surprise on back-to-back days.
The Cubs will play the Rangers on Friday, Feb. 28, before taking on the Royals on Saturday, March 1.
The hometown Arizona Diamondbacks, which made the World Series in 2023, will be in Surprise twice as well — Sunday March 2 against the Rangers and Monday, March 17 against the Royals.
The city plans to make all ticket packages, including season tickets, mini-plans and group tickets, available at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29.
“Each of these options offers savings over individual game ticket prices, first choice of the best available seating locations and exclusive access to pre-sale opportunities,” the city wrote in a news release announcing the schedule.
For fans wanting individual game tickets, those will go on sale at 10 a.m. Nov. 12 at SurpriseStadium.com.
There’s no word yet on game times or promotional events.
Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@iniusa.org. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Jason Jason Stone joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2019, after a distinguished three decade media career that included stops at the Arizona Republic, iHeart Media/Clear Channel and Beckett Sports Card magazine. He remembers when airports sold newspapers.
Community: He is a big supporter of the Valley's original sports team: The Phoenix Suns.
Education: Northern Arizona University with a BS in broadcast journalism and a minor in sports coaching.
Random Fact: The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln.
Hobbies: Surfing, backgammon and men who aren't afraid to cry.
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