Spring Training Fever in Orlando - Saying Goodbye to Champion Stadium

As America’s favourite pastime, baseball has been a big part of its culture for over 150 years.  Every year, Major League Baseball teams head to the warmer climates of Arizona or Florida for six weeks of Spring Training in preparation for the regular season that starts around the end of March or early April.  While I have been to my fair share of baseball games in the past, I have never once been to a Spring Training game.  That all changed for me while I was in Orlando and realized that the hotel I was staying for an upcoming conference I had to attend was less than 10 minutes away from Champion Stadium – the Grapefruit League home field for the Atlanta Braves.

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex - Home of Champion Stadium

Champion Stadium is officially located on the Walt Disney World property at their ESPN Wide World of Sports location.  Not only was I about to attend my first Spring Training game ever, but this would be my first time ever visiting this section of Walt Disney World.  Opened in 1997, Champion Stadium was initially intended to be a neutral stadium for Grapefruit League games when necessary, but ultimately ended up becoming the home field of the Atlanta Braves like I said.  Surrounding the ballpark were other baseball diamonds that saw young kids playing in a weekend baseball tournament.  There was also a weekend cheerleading competition going on at the same time inside the HP Field House right beside Champion Stadium.  Already it felt more like I was in a small town about to go to watch a minor league baseball game instead of two Major League Baseball teams.

2019 Grapefruit League Spring Training - Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros

Making my way to the box office, I was a bit shocked that the most expensive tickets happened to be in the upper deck behind home plate!  Usually, upper deck seats are some of the cheapest tickets you will find throughout all Major League Baseball stadiums.  This wasn’t the case here at Champion Stadium, but for about $45 US, I felt like it was still reasonably priced compared to other professional sports games I have been to.  Once inside the stadium, however, I quickly understood why they were that expensive.  Compared to regular sized Major League Baseball stadiums, the upper deck at Champions League is really the equivalent to the lower 200 level/high 100 level section.  Without a doubt, this section has the best unobstructed view of the entire stadium.

My view during the Atlanta Braves game

Champion Stadium itself was just very impressive.  Much like the architecture one would find in Florida, the stadium incorporates Venetian Gothic Revival, Mediterranean, and Spanish influences with yellow-painted stucco, green-tile roofs, towers, and arches.  Down towards the third base line, palm trees line up along the grassy knolls where fans can sit and watch their favourite Major Leaguers play as if they were at community ballpark in rural America instead.  A much larger grassy knoll area is located out in left field for fans to sit while several flag poles dot the landscape with stadium sponsors in the form of pennants instead of typical billboard signage.  Down the first base line are more bench seats and a small beer garden for fans to sample local craft brews.  Such a unique, intimate vibe here at this marvelous stadium.

2019 Grapefruit League Season - Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros

By the time I had found my seat, the game had already started.  I was anticipating this to be a fun, competitive game to watch.  The Houston Astros won their first ever World Series back in 2017, so their championship team was still relatively intact.  And while the Atlanta Braves have struggled a lot since their heyday of the early-to-mid 1990s, they acquired Josh Donaldson during the off-season to help bolster their offense.  Furthermore, it was St. Patrick’s Day.  With the Atlanta Braves donning green home jerseys for the occasion, it certainly helped to put the fans into a festive mood.

Fans enjoying the game on the grassy knoll out in Left Field

Robinson Chirinos opened up the scoring at the top of the 4th inning for the Houston Astros with a double hit into left field that brought Josh Reddick home.  The Astros then added to their lead in the top of the 6th with runs batted in coming from Tyler White and Nick Tanielu to make the score 4-0.  The energy at Champion Stadium was completely deflated at this point with a deafening silence until Freddie Freeman answered back for the Atlanta Braves.  Freeman’s three run homerun fly ball over right field pulled the Braves within one run at the end of the sixth inning.  Unfortunately, this was about as good as it would get for the Braves as the Astros exploded for three more unanswered runs off singles from Alex De Goti and Ronnie Dawson at the top of the 9th to secure the 7-3 win.

And just like that, my first experience with Spring Training was over.  But what an experience it was to see the Atlanta Braves play one of their last remaining games here before they head off to their new stadium for the 2020 season.  Although the game itself wasn’t memorable, Champion Stadium certainly will be for me in the years to come.  It’ll be interesting to see what future Spring Training games I find myself at and see how those stadiums compare.  But for now, it was time for me to head to downtown Orlando to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

A salute to the fans as the Atlanta Braves leave the field following the game

2019 Spring Training – Grapefruit League

Teams:  Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros

Score:  7 – 3 (Houston Astros)

Winning Pitcher:  Framber Valdez (HOU)

Losing Pitcher:  Julio Teheran (ATL)

Home Runs:  Freddie Freeman (ATL)

Weather:  21° Celsius

Wind:  8 mph – in from Left Field

First Pitch:  1:08pm EST

Time:  2:54

Attendance:  6351

Venue:  Champion Stadium

Date:  March 17, 2019