MLB spring training schedule for Florida set

[January 24, 2009]  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Major League Baseball teams are gearing up for 289 games to be played in 15 Florida locations during this year's spring training.

The Grapefruit League season begins Feb. 25 and runs through April 4 with an early scheduling highlight coming in Clearwater on Feb. 28 when the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies meet the Tampa Bay Rays in a rematch of World Series opponents.

The teams meet again March 12 in Port Charlotte at the new spring training home of the Rays.

Major League teams have been coming to Florida since 1888 when the Washington Senators and New York Giants played the first preseason exhibition game in Jacksonville, although there was a hiatus between 1942 and 1945 because of World War II.

[Associated Press]

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