Dodgers Diaries

The Dodgers announced today that the club will play a split squad spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds this March 31. Half the team will stay behind at Camelback Ranch to play the Giants. The other half (I’m guessing rookies, single guys, and those who remember their AAA days with the Las Vegas 51 fondly will be making the trip.)

A Taiwan game is also in the works for spring training 2010. Tickets are not yet available for either game, but they are for all other home spring training contests at dodgers.com/spring

Is this the beginning of a new trend? If fans get all excited to travel to the Arizona desert for spring training, how jazzed will they be to go to Vegas? One desert is much like another, but Vegas has gambling, shows and naked girls. Phoenix has ... well, spas. In 10 years, will we be seeing a mass migration from Phoenix to Vegas? Unless baseball has something to say about it, I can’t see why not. It’s not like baseball teams are loyal to their spring training homes. If they’re not contractually bound to a city, I can see them pulling up stakes pretty quickly.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL