The Kansas City Royals have been around since 1969. While The Royals haven’t always been the best team in the American League, or even a highlight of Kansas City, they sure grabbed our hearts in 2014 when they made it to the World Series, playing against the San Francisco Giants. In 2015, The Royals were able to win the World Series against The New York Mets in the fifth game of the series.

Since then, Kansas City has loved and appreciated The Royals more so than before. By selling out games, wiping out merchandise and some dedicated fans flying to Phoenix, Arizona to watch The Royals play during Spring Training.

Opinion:

I am one of the lucky ones who spent my spring break watching the Royals play Spring Training games, cheering on my favorite players, and booing at opposing teams. The Royals currently play in Surprise, Arizona which is around north west Phoenix. Surprise is almost out of the valley and takes a long time to get to, sometimes up to two hours depending on traffic.

Because of this I mostly attending games closer to me, on the east side of the valley. I watched the Royals play the Diamondbacks, and lose 2-4, while receiving one of the worst sunburns of my life. I spent $10 on sunscreen just to find out all of the stadiums offer free sunscreen. They know Arizona is hot and people who travel there don’t typically realize how much closer to the sun they are.

Being a baseball fan, I enjoyed going to games that Kansas City didn’t play in. This wasn’t my first time going to a spring training game so I knew what to expect. Tickets to games are fairly cheap, lawn seats start off at $8 and go up from there. Front row tickets in the shade are typically around $40, depending on who is playing.

The most expensive thing about spring training is getting to Arizona and finding a place to stay. Flights aren’t cheap, especially if tickets aren’t bought until the last second. I was lucky enough to have family in Phoenix so I didn’t have to worry about finding a place to stay or saving money for food and merchandise.

Although I love the Royals I wouldn’t recommend going to Arizona just for spring training. It becomes really costly very quickly and isn’t as amazing as it seems. Yes, it is fun to say you’ve been and brag a little on Instagram but it takes a lot of time and preparation.

I wasn’t a fan of the 98-degree weather in mid-March or the crazy traffic on every street and highway I turned on, I still had a lot of fun.

Next time, I think I will stick to games at Kauffman Stadium.