The Arizona Diamondbacks announced their 33-game Spring Training schedule, which features 18 home games and one road game at the award-winning Salt River Fields at Talking Stick and two exhibition games at Chase Field. This season will mark the seventh year at the shared Spring Training facility with the Colorado Rockies on Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community land near Scottsdale.
The D-backs open their 20th Spring Training on Feb. 22 at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick with an exhibition game against Grand Canyon University, led by former D-backs infielder Andy Stankiewicz, at 1:10 p.m. as part of an annual Collegiate Baseball Series. In the first year of the collegiate series in 2015, the D-backs played Arizona State University and last season the D-backs hosted the University of Arizona as part of the series that rotates opponents between Arizona’s three Division I NCAA baseball programs – ASU, University of Arizona and Grand Canyon University (GCU).
The D-backs officially open Cactus League play on Feb. 25 hosting the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields. Salt River Fields will also play host to a trio of World Baseball Classic exhibition games, including a matchup on March 8 between the D-backs and Team Mexico, a March 9 showdown between the Rockies and Team Puerto Rico, and a March 18 game between the D-backs and the WBC Pool E (Tokyo) qualifier.
The D-backs have eight games against their National League West rivals with two games against the Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The D-backs will also play the World Series Champion Chicago Cubs three times, including a night game at Salt River Fields on March 2.
Tickets for all games at Salt River Fields are priced from $11-$37. Special ticket pricing offers for the D-backs vs. Grand Canyon University game will be available at a later date. General admission Banana Boat Lawn seating, which holds 4,000 people, will be $11-$16, and tickets for 7,000 reserved seats in the seating bowl range from $21-$37. The D-backs Plan offers tickets for each of their 18 home games at Salt River Fields that range in price from $187-$544. The two exhibition games held at Chase Field are not included in the Spring Training season ticket package but are available in the D-backs’ regular season ticket packages.
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community members and D-backs and Rockies season-ticket holders may purchase season-ticket plans for Spring Training games at Salt River Fields exclusively, between Dec. 14-16. Season-ticket plans for the D-backs’ 17 home games and all 35 Spring Training games at Salt River Fields featuring the D-backs and Rockies, including the D-backs vs. Grand Canyon University game, will go on sale to the public beginning Dec. 16.
Individual game tickets for all 35 games at Salt River Fields will go on sale beginning at 10 a.m. on Jan. 7. Tickets can be purchased in person at the D-backs Ticket Office at Chase Field, at dbacks.com/spring or by calling 888.490.0383 or 480.362.WINS (9467).
Salt River Fields is the first Spring Training facility built on Native American land. Owned by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the 140-acre site near the Pima-Loop 101 Freeway and Talking Stick Way consists of separate training facilities and clubhouses accommodating each team as well as an 11,000-seat ballpark featuring a uniquely designed roof structure offering fans in the cross aisle plenty of shade. Salt River Fields at Talking Stick is one of four entertainment venues carrying the “Talking Stick” brand along with Talking Stick Golf Club, Talking Stick Resort and The Pavilions at Talking Stick.
Among the recent awards given to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick are “Best Spring Training Facility” by Arizona Foothills magazine for the fifth consecutive year, “Best Spring Training Destination” by Sports On Earth (2016), “#1 Spring Training Facility” by Concierges magazine, “Best Cactus League Ballpark” by Ballpark Digest (2016), and “Best Place to See a Spring Training Game” by Phoenix New Times (2016). In 2014 Stadium Journey named Salt River Fields both the “Best Cactus League Ballpark” and “Top Stadium Experiences of the Year.” USA Today awarded Scottsdale the “Best Spring Training City” (2014) and in 2015 TripAdvisor gave the complex a Certificate of Excellence.
Salt River Fields has led the Cactus League in attendance for six consecutive seasons, welcoming more than 300,000 fans each year and is still the only Major League Baseball Spring Training complex ever to break 300,000 fans in a season. It is also the first Spring Training facility to receive a gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program and the first Spring Training complex to be built on Native American land.