Spring Training In Arizona
Attending the Chicago Cub's spring training baseball games in Mesa Arizona can be a lot of fun. It is a chance to get out of the cold and it is an opportunity to see some of the Cub's young prospects. There are some cons to going however. One of the problems with spring training in Arizona is it has become very popular. Airlines and hotel rates go up at the beginning of March.
Car rentals especially with all of their extra taxes and fee are excessively expensive. Attending games is not as cheap as you might expect. Tickets range from $7-$29, parking is reasonable but not free and despite beer vendors selling Old Style out of a bucket it costs almost as much as at Wrigley Field. Tickets have also become kind of hard to get. Not just at Hohokam but at any of the Cub's road games. Traffic is also a problem because there is only one small road into Hohokam. Even though it is in the desert it can be cool if not kind of cold during the games. I have had to wear a jacket at about half of the games I have attended in Mesa.
There are some nice hotels in Mesa, I enjoyed staying at the Hilton. But there is nowhere to stay close to Hohokam. Many of the hotels do offer packages and they are a good source for tickets. But you will most likely be driving to the games. So do not limit your hotel search to just Mesa. Mesa is an okay city, but it does not have a lot to offer tourist after the games are over.
Scottsdale and the northern part of Phoenix have a lot more to see and do. They do however tend to be much more expensive.
Road games are a good alternative for Cub's fans. Hohokam is a nice stadium, but so are all of the other stadiums. Tickets can be a little easier to get and there will still be plenty of other Cub's fans at the game. The Chicago White Sox have just moved to the Phoenix area and should be good team to watch. Hopefully the St. Louis Cardinals will someday join them in Arizona. The Giants games in Scottsdale are probably the best to attend because the stadium is right in Scottsdale so you can get something to eat or hit a bar before the game. Hohokam is a lot like U.S. Cellular Field in that there is nowhere to go or nothing to do there before or after the game.