I attended the last Red Sox spring training game in Ft Myers in this truncated spring training season. It was the most unusual spring training game that I have experienced. First, I got the day wrong, thinking the game was Monday, March 28. But when I texted George, my friend who was buying the tickets, he told me that it was actually for Tuesday, April 5. The opponent was the Minnesota Twins, at their park, also in Ft Myers.
So as we (me, George and Bob, all friends from high school) were on our way to the Twins stadium, George was unable to access the tickets on his phone. He then discovered that HE got the date wrong too and the tickets were for Monday, April 4. We had missed the game! But a quick check of the Red Sox schedule showed that the two teams were playing again, but at JetBlue Park, home of the Red Sox. We decided to head there to see if we could get in. I didn’t think there was much chance of that as every spring training game I have ever attended had been 100% sold out.
But this is a most unusual spring training season. Not only did we get seats, we got some terrific ones, on the first base side, in the shade, front row behind the main walkway around the park. Totally unobstructed view with no one seated in front of us. Probably the best seats I have ever had at JetBlue. How did we manage to get so lucky? Well, the fact that most of the seats were unsold helped. Apparently because the entire spring training schedule had to be thrown out by the contract dispute between players and owners (millionaires fighting billionaires), all advance ticket sales were refunded. All tickets were sold either online or at the park, pretty much at the last moment. Very unusual.
The game was pretty good. The Red Sox, with their high-priced starting lineup, fell behind 6-1 after 5 innings, getting only 2 hits. Then they started replacing the starters with the rookies and they knocked the ball all over the park. The Red Sox won, 10-6.
A good game to watch. But most unusual.