{"id":586039,"date":"2026-02-22T05:32:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T05:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/586039\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T05:32:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T05:32:24","slug":"baseballs-back-spring-training-returns-to-southwest-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/586039\/","title":{"rendered":"‘BASEBALL’S BACK:’ Spring training returns to Southwest Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Spring training has officially returned to Southwest Florida, drawing thousands of baseball fans to stadiums across the region during the first weekend of games.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Fans fill Southwest Florida stadiums during the first weekend of spring training games: <\/p>\n

‘BASEBALL’S BACK:’ Spring training returns to Southwest Florida<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Twins hosted the Boston Red Sox on Saturday at Hammond Stadium in Lee County, while the Tampa Bay Rays hosted the Atlanta Braves in Charlotte County. <\/p>\n

“It’s opening day, Southwest Florida, it’s baseball season,” said Michael Martin, a Red Sox fan who attended the game in Lee County. “Come on! Doesn’t get any better than this!” <\/p>\n

A study<\/a> published in 2019 found that spring training generates $69 million in Lee County alone. Fans traveled from across the country to get a taste of the sunshine. <\/p>\n

\"Fans\"<\/p>\n

WFTX<\/p>\n

Thousands of fans packed Hammond Stadium during the return of spring training in Lee County, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. <\/p>\n

Sandy and Timothy Johnson of Minnesota said they have attended Twins spring training for the last 40 years. <\/p>\n

“Gorgeous weather,” Sandy Johnson said. “It’s 14 degrees back home, so we’re watching the Twins!”<\/p>\n

Plenty of Red Sox fans were also at Hammond Stadium on Saturday. Boston plays just down the road at JetBlue Park. <\/p>\n

“It’s nice that people came out to support,” Twins fan Kayde Clampitt said. “Shows that they’re true fans.” <\/p>\n

\"Baseball<\/p>\n

WFTX<\/p>\n

A baseball fan watches the Minnesota Twins host the Boston Red Sox at Hammond Stadium in Lee County, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. <\/p>\n

The Red Sox defeated the Twins 7-2, while the Braves beat the Rays 5-1.<\/p>\n

“Baseball’s back and I love it,” Red Sox fan Robert Sirois said. “I’m a huge, huge sports fan of all kinds of sports but baseball is a special, special part of my heart for me.” <\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 Spring training has officially returned to Southwest Florida, drawing thousands of baseball fans to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[191,46,5,141,48,75767,182,76525,53893,76526,76527,64950,822,60,3190,4,148],"class_list":["post-586039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-twins","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baseball","tag-boston","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-charlotte-county","tag-florida","tag-fort-myers-metro-south-florida","tag-fox-4","tag-hunter-walterman","tag-lee-health","tag-lee-health-sports-complex","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-minnesotatwins","tag-mlb","tag-twins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116112650957048600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}