The 2025 MLB season is right around the corner, with teams beginning to assemble for spring training in Florida and Arizona. Pitchers and catchers first started reporting as early as February 9, and the first spring training games of the year will take place this week, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs open Cactus League play on Thursday, Feb. 20, and the New York Yankees face the Tampa Bay Rays in the Grapefruit League the next day.
While the tradition of spring training has deep roots in baseball dating back to the 1860s, the Grapefruit League began a few decades later, when the Philadelphia Phillies decamped to Jacksonville to prepare for their 1889 season. By the 1910s, spring training in Florida had become commonplace. Today, the 30 MLB teams are evenly distributed between Florida's Grapefruit League and Arizona's Cactus League.
