SARASOTA, Fla. — It's time to play ball as Major League Baseball's pre-season spring training games kicked off, Friday.
A number of teams in the Tampa Bay area had their first spring training opening games scheduled since the lockout ended last week.
The Baltimore Orioles took on the Toronto Blue Jays Friday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.
"Let's go O's! We are so happy, we want to learn who all these new players are and of course, we're excited to see Trey if he's here," said Pam Kelleman, an Orioles fan from Baltimore.
Kelleman and her husband Joe drove two hours from where they were staying in Fort Myers to spend the weekend in Sarasota so they could catch the game. They are just some of the hundreds of fans who trooped into the stadium to finally get a chance to watch America's past time in the Spring.
The 99-day long lockout between team owners and players had spoiled many spring break plans and threatened to shut fans out from catching the games.
"We'd hope to get more than one game in. We are flying out from Tampa today, so we just lucked out that we got one game in," said Sean Lonergan, a Blue Jays fan from Ontario.
Lonergan was with his son, Keane, a Dodgers fan and they were visiting grandparents in North Port for spring break.
"We were disappointed when we heard that spring training was canceled as we originally had tickets home for the Orioles at Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers," said Kelleman.
The pre-season fun in the Grapefruit League was not just for tourists but locals as well, many of whom have been following spring training for years.
"We moved here 22 years ago, we came to spring training when it was the Reds and the White Sox and Mia has been coming for seven years in a row now," said Frankie Ledger, a Sarasota resident who came to the game with his 7-year-old granddaughter, Mia.
The game wrapped up around 4:30 pm with the Blue Jays taking the day in a 9-5 win over Baltimore.
The return of the games is a welcome sight not only for the businesses who rely on the tourism dollars generated, but also for fans who have been looking forward to opportunities to return to normal and enjoy the sport. Many fans said they were weary from all the disruptions of the past two years including COVID.
"It's starting to open which is great, a great part for the economy," said Joe Kelleman.
"We can see that it's really brought a lot of people out, look in the car parking area, it's just totally packed and I can smell the hotdogs. So it's a pretty good experience for everybody, I'm glad all the staff is back getting their jobs," said Terry FitzPatrick, a Blue Jays fan from Kingston, Ontario.
The Orioles play the New York Yankees at 1:05 pm. on Saturday. For more Orioles games see the full schedule.