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Fall of the House of SnakePit
Our report on the 2012 AFL Fest
One of the joys of living in Arizona is that there's baseball almost the entire year round. As well as the major-league team, we also have six weeks of spring training, when half of baseball shows up, and at the end of the year, when interest is dwindling to the teams still involved in the post-season, or even ceased entirely, we get the Arizona Fall League, one of the best showcases for upcoming talent in all of baseball. Fourteen of MLB's top 50 prospects are taking part this year, and you get up close and personal, since the games are open seating, with attendance rarely more than a few hundred.
Tickets are $7 for adults: those 55 and over and kids 17 and under save a buck, so it's a very reasonable night out, cheaper than a trip to the movies. You might want to bring cash though, as I'm not sure if credit-cards are accepted at all facilities. There's no charge for parking either (at least, there wasn't last season), but you might want to bring a jacket. As we found out in 2011, things can still get pretty chilly in Arizona in November. Games are played from Monday through Saturday, mostly during the day at 12:35, but there's usually one night game, beginning at 6:35 pm (like the Tuesday one we'll be at). And since AFL games can end in a tie, you know you won't be there till dawn!
I think this is about the fifth SnakePit Arizona Fall League get together. We've had them previously at Hohokam and Scottsdale, but now the Diamondbacks have settled in to their new digs at Salt River Fields, it seems appropriate to attend a game there. Games are also played at Camelback and Surprise: normally, they'd also be played at Peoria, but that park is currently being renovated, so the team which normally plays there is sharing the Surprise park this season. Regular games run through November 14, with the AFL All-Star Game taking place on November 2, and the Championship, between the winners of the East and West Division, on November 16.
Attendance at SnakePitAFLFest is entirely informal: buy a ticket and show up. We'll typically be lurking behind the Scottsdale River Rafters dugout, if the weather is amenable [last year, it was kinda rainy], but stay tuned to Twitter for updates on the day. It's the last chance to see "meaningful" - or at least, "meaningfulish" professional baseball in Arizona until spring training, so it's an opportunity not to be missed. See you there.