It has been a long winter—and who are we kidding, most of us are in Wisconsin, where it may yet feel like winter for another two months—but we’ve finally made it to the first real day on the 2026 baseball calendar. Brewers pitchers and catchers report to spring training today, and tomorrow will be the first day when we can hear the sweet sound of baseballs being fired into catchers’ mitts.
It is a World Baseball Classic year, so the Brewers’ spring training will be a little different than usual, but everyone the Brewers are expecting in camp will be there for at least a couple of weeks. WBC participants (you can see all 14 Brewers players on WBC rosters here) will then report to their respective national teams at the beginning of March, and tournament play begins on March 5th. WBC players will then trickle back into camp as their teams are eliminated; half the field is out after group play ends on March 11, and the rest of the tournament goes quickly, as the championship game is on March 17.
Even without some of the team’s biggest stars with the spring Brewers, there will be plenty of intrigue at American Family Family Fields of Phoenix. The biggest question rose out of the ashes of Monday’s big trade, which left Milwaukee without an obvious third baseman. While an outside move is certainly possible, there will be extra attention on the well-regarded Brewers infield prospects who we all thought were about a year away but could now get thrust into the spotlight: Brock Wilken, Andrew Fischer, Cooper Pratt, and others.
But all of those things will get figured out with time. For now, it’s just nice to have baseball again, to see green grass again, to see people comfortably wearing short sleeves. The season has unofficially begun.