2025 Road Trip #1: The Floridian
Let Amtrak take the reins on this trip
It’s January, that lonely spot on the calendar between the World Series and Opening Day. Our swim from shore to shore is halfway done, and you can look back and see how far we’ve come, and then turn around and see how far we have to go. But! The 2025 baseball schedule is assembled, so why not cheer ourselves up with some vacation planning?
My favorite offseason activity is road trip planning. One random day every winter, my dad would come home with the updated Rand McNally Road Atlas and a baseball preview magazine with every team’s upcoming schedule. He’d put them on the dining table and give me a pencil and pad of paper and see if I could plan a road trip for us.
From then on, the schedule wasn’t just white, gray and colored boxes on a little calendar to me, it was the open road, sunny days in a new city and seeing with my own eyes a brand new baseball stadium that existed only in standard-def cable feeds and PS1 graphics in the Triple Play games.
One year, in 2006, that ultimate goal finally turned into a reality when a couple friends and I set sail in our giant land yacht (a 2003 Yukon Denali) from Danville, California on a 43 day, 20,000 mile trip to 26 MLB stadiums, some minor league parks and several other attractions. It was the perfect time to do it, after our sophomore year in college when we had all summer off (and all year prior to save up for it). I need to write that all into a book one day, and maybe a couple posts with some more details.
But now as an adult, I’m aware most people can’t just pack up and leave for a month or two. No wonder my dad never took me up on my plans for every stadium (also I was not 16, so he’d be doing all the driving). So since us corporate drones have to carefully plan around our preciously few vacation days, holidays and family schedules, I’m going to put out 5 potential road trips you can take in 2025. The fifth and final one will be the most efficient 30-teamer that I can figure out, but the rest will be regional ones with 7-14 days of travel (at most, you can trim to your liking).
Let’s start with one for those of us who don’t want to actually do the driving part of a road trip.
There’s an Amtrak route called “The Floridian” that runs from Chicago to Miami. Here’s what it looks like:
Amtrak offers the USA Rail Pass for $499, which is 10 segments within 30 days of coach travel. Since they count each time you disembark (even for a connection) as a segment, the Floridian is the most efficient way I could find to make this happen. It’s not quite as flexible as driving, because trains in America tend to run on a fixed schedule (allegedly). The benefits are no driving, scenery and stops very close to all these parks. You’ll still need to get lodging at each stop, and there is one long haul, but that’s life on the road.
This trip is 8 days from start to finish, and there’s actually 3 different spots on the calendar it’s possible. Since the Rays are playing outdoors this season, I’ll use the late-May trip for this post, and at the end I’ll lay out the two other trips which are pretty much the same except the dates. So first things first, get your sunscreen, phone charger and baseball glove down to Miami.
Stop 1: Miami
Game 1: Tues, May 20, 6:40 - Miami Marlins vs Chicago Cubs at loanDepot Park
We start off seeing the Miami Marlins. I’ll be honest, the main attraction here will be seeing the Cubs play and checking a stadium off your list. They removed the wild homer statue in center field and the fish tanks behind the plate, and also any actual baseball talent, and by May the crowd, especially on a Tuesday night, may not reach 10,000 fans. It’s big, it’s ugly, it’s indoors…
The stadium is about 7 miles from the Miami station, but you’ll be spending the night and hopping on the train to Tampa the following morning. It leaves at 11:05 and arrives at Union Station in Tampa at 4:31 PM.
Leg 1: 40 Floridian from MIA to TPA (5/21, 11:05am-4:31pm, 5h26m)
Stop 2: Tampa
Game 2: Wed, May 21, TBD - Tampa Bay Rays vs Houston Astros at George Steinbrenner Field.
For a no-car trip, this actually works out pretty well. Union Station in Tampa is only 5 miles from George Steinbrenner Field, as opposed to 23 miles and across a bridge to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. They don’t have start times listed on the team site yet, so if it’s a getaway day game this isn’t possible anymore. But if they schedule the game at night, you can go watch outdoor regular season baseball in Florida for the first time since 2011.
You get to spend the night and most of the next day in Tampa before hopping back on the Floridian for the longest leg of this trip. I suggest you get a good book or two as it’s 22 hours of travel time up the Atlantic coast to Union Station in Washington, D.C.
Leg 2: 40 Floridian from TPA to WAS (5/22, 4:45pm-3:06pm [next day], 22h21m)
Stop 3: Washington D.C.
Game 3: Fri, May 23, 6:45 - Washington Nationals vs San Francisco Giants at Nationals Park
You’ll be getting in from your overnight trip from Florida, through four states and arriving at Union Station in the middle of DC at 3pm, just in time for the start of the weekend series against the Giants. From Union Station you head south, storm past the US Capitol and Nationals Park is only 2 miles away.
You’ll have an overnight stay near the assisted living facility known as the United States Congress and an afternoon departure for Pittsburgh where you’ll get to ride through Pennsylvania and watch the sunset on Quaker Country.
Leg 3: 40 Floridian from WAS to PGH (5/24, 4:05pm-11:48pm, 7h43m)
Stop 4: Pittsburgh
Game 4: Sun, May 25, 1:35 - Pittsburgh Pirates vs Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park
This will be the highlight of the trip, I think. PNC Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon with the vibrant yellow bridges serving as a backdrop to some Buccos baseball and hopefully Andrew McCutchen heroics. You get in at midnight on Saturday, so sleep in in the Steel City and from there it’s only 1.5 miles from Union Station to PNC Park, but you also get to cross two rivers (three if you want to take a different route back). I suggest arriving with the crowd and crossing the Roberto Clemente Bridge in a sea of black and yellow.
Afterward, you can hangout at some of the bars near the park before heading back to Union Station for a midnight ride to Cleveland.
Leg 4: 40 Floridian from PGH to CLE (5/25, 11:59pm-2:53am, 2h54m)
Stop 5: Cleveland
Game 5: Tues, May 27, TBD - Cleveland Guardians vs Los Angeles Dodgers at Progressive Field
We flee to the Cleve and the park that once hosted 455 consecutive home sellouts. It’s a Memorial Day start of their three-game series against the Dodgers, so this will probably be one of those packed houses that were so constant in the late 90’s, too. You get in around 3am, so hopefully there’s a hotel around that has funky check-in and check-out hours, because you also get back on the train Monday night for the final leg to Chicago.
Leg 5: 40 Floridian from CLE to CHI (5/26, 2:53am-8:45am, 5h46m)
Stop 6: Chicago
Game 6: Tue, May 27, 7:05 - Chicago Cubs vs Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field
You reach the end of the Floridian route in the Windy City where the Cubs take on the Rockies at night. I’ve been to Wrigley like 5 or 6 times, and never a night game. Must be like a whole new stadium. You also get into Chicago at 8:45am, so you’ll have a whole day to fill. What’s there to do? You could shower, borrow a friend’s dad’s Ferrari, take in the view at Sears Tower (or whatever it’s called now), get a fancy lunch under Abe Froman’s name, go to a Cubs game (oh, wait), and headline a parade. So many sights and sounds.
And from there, you may go back home with 6 Major League Stadiums (well, 5 and a temp) crossed off your list and $0 spent on gas!
Total Cost
The Amtrak pass is $499. You’ll need travel to Miami and home from Chicago, plus a room for the night in 7 cities. Six MLB games would be $100 minimum, most likely and you’ve gotta eat. So all together, a budget of $1,500 gets this done at the low end (unless you want to sleep on the bench at all the train stations).
Is this cheaper than driving? No, it’d be about 2,000 miles to drive to all 6 of these parks. Unless your car gets 10mpg, it will be less in gas than the fare. But, you also only used 6 of your 10 legs, so if you live somewhere where you can use the remaining four, that’s a plus. And you do avoid things like traffic, tolls and that 13 hour drive from Florida to DC.
I am always surprised at how inefficient train travel actually is. I always think it’s gonna be more like city mass transit where you can leave at different times or arrive at different times, but long distance train travel leaves when they demand and drops you off when they feel like it. It still would be a cool experience, and all the stations are legitimately within walking distance to their respective stadiums on this route.
Summary
As mentioned, there’s 3 windows where this trip can work. And the one outlined above is dependent on having a night game in Tampa. Below are the quick summarized itineraries of the 3 choices (one concludes with the White Sox instead of the Cubs).
All travel is set no matter what day you actually leave:
Miami to Tampa, 11am departure, 5.5 hours
Tampa to DC, 4:45pm departure, 22.5 hours, arrive next day
DC to Pittsburgh, 4:05pm departure, 7.75 hours
Pittsburgh to Cleveland, midnight departure, 3 hours
Cleveland to Chicago, 3am departure, 6 hours
And here are the schedules
Option 1: May 6-13
Tuesday, May 6, Miami: Marlins vs Dodgers, 6:40
May 7, Tampa: Rays vs Phillies, TBD
May 8, overnight travel to DC
May 9, DC: Nationals vs Cardinals, 6:45
May 10, travel to Pittsburgh
May 11, Pittsburgh: Pirates vs Braves, 1:35
May 12, Cleveland: Guardians vs Brewers, TBD
May 13, Chicago: Cubs vs Marlins, 6:40 (oh god you see the Marlins twice. I’m so sorry)
Option 2: May 20-27
Tuesday, May 20, Miami: Marlins vs Cubs, 6:40
May 21, Tampa: Rays vs Astros, TBD
May 22, overnight travel to DC
May 23, DC: Nationals vs Giants, 6:45
May 24, travel to Pittsburgh
May 25, Pittsburgh: Pirates vs Brewers, 1:35
May 26, Cleveland: Guardians vs Dodgers, TBD
May 27, Chicago: Cubs vs Rockies, 7:05
Option 3: July 18-25
Friday, July 18, Miami: Marlins vs Royals, 7:10
July 19, Tampa: Rays vs Orioles, TBD
July 20, overnight travel to DC
July 21, DC: Nationals vs Reds, 6:45
July 22, travel to Pittsburgh
July 23, Pittsburgh: Pirates vs Tigers, 12:35
July 24, Cleveland: Guardians vs Orioles, TBD
July 25, Chicago: White Sox vs Cubs, 7:05
If you take one of these trips, send a postcard!