The Two Road Trip Methods

Method 1: Zone Coverage

There’s two ways you can go about a baseball road trip. One is to pick your spots and try to see as many teams in as few of days as possible in a given time frame. Say, a week riding the rails in the Northeast trying to catch the bundle of teams up there. The further west you go, the harder and longer the trip options get. Twenty of the thirty Major League teams are on or east of the Mississippi River, so once you cross that bridge, it’s a lot of 6-8 hour drives between teams at a minimum. But with smart planning, plenty of PTO and dedication, you can get to most, if not all, of the stadiums in one seaon.

The other way is just to start somewhere and circle around until you’ve hit all 30 teams. I’ll discuss that plan later. Today is all about zones.

There’s two methods within the Zone Coverage method. First, there’s the MLB-only plan. And then there’s the experience featuring full minor league coverage. Starting with an MLB-approach, you can split the map into six regions that contain up to 7 teams (a week of travel), and knock them out month by month. I kept the zones maxed at 7, since two weeks on the road is exhausting. While I wish there was a way to get six nice pockets of five teams, you can see below it’s not so easy.

• Zone 1, “The Outer Planets”: Mariners, Rockies. Probably the one zone you’ll have to fly between, unless you really like the winds of western Wyoming.

• Zone 2, “California and Friends”: A’s, Giants, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Diamondbacks. All of California and a dip into the desert. This trip will feature the best weather of any zone, so pack light.

• Zone 3, “The Huckleberry Finn Loop”: Astros, Rangers, Royals, Cardinals, Reds. Spend a lot of time floating the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with a fishing line tied to your big toe to grab both Texas and Missouri teams plus a bonus Reds game.

• Zone 4, “The Great Lakes”: Twins, Brewers, White Sox, Cubs, Tigers, Guardians, Blue Jays. You’d have to go out of your way to hit Lake Superior, but you can dip a toe in all five Great Lakes in this zone, as long as you didn’t lose it fishing in the Mississippi earlier.

• Zone 5, “The Dirty South”. Braves, Rays, Marlins. I thought about including the Nats and O’s here as well, but that drive from Georgia to Virginia is one of the more exhausting ones in the country.

• Zone 6, “The Only Teams ESPN Shows”. Pirates, Orioles, Nationals, Phillies, Mets, Yankees, Red Sox. Well, the only reason those first three teams are shown is because they’re playing the important teams.

But that was too simple. Let’s get crazy. There are 150 pro baseball teams in the Major League “universe”. Or… 25 a month. That’s wild. But let’s break this up into digestible bites, giving us 25 6-team regions, because even the Lord rested on the 7th day. Also, the minor leagues no longer play any games on Mondays. The “Garfield Clause”. I’m going to be using this lovely map provided by Baseball America.

Oh Man

Alright, 6-team regions. There will be a couple adjustments. Such as the 8-team Washington/Oregon zone will be one big family because of simplicity. That’s the only funky one though.

1. Washington and Oregon. One MLB team, 1 AAA team and 6 Northwest League teams. Seattle Mariners, Tacoma Rainiers, Eugene Emeralds, Everett AquaSox, Hillsboro Hops, Spokane Indians, Tri-City Dust Devils, Vancouver Canadians.

   

2. The Bay Area. Two (technically) MLB teams, 1 AAA teams and 3 California League teams. Oakland A’s, San Francisco Giants, Sacramento RiverCats, Modesto Nuts, San Jose Giants, Stockton Ports.

3. The California Grand Tour. Two MLB teams, 1 AAA team and 3 California League teams. Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Reno Aces, Fresno Grizzlies, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Visalia Oaks.

   

4. The Border Run. Two MLB teams, 2 AAA teams and 2 California League teams. Arizona Diamondbacks, Las Vegas Aviators, Salt Lake Bees, Inland Empire 66ers, Lake Elsinore Storm.

   

5. Home on the Range. One MLB team, 2 AAA teams, 2 Texas League teams. Colorado Rockies, Albuquerque Isotopes, El Paso Chihuahuas, Amarillo Sod Poodles, Midland RockHounds.

   

6. Texas Forever. One MLB team, 2 AAA teams, 3 Texas League teams. Houston Astros, Round Rock Express, Sugar Land Space Cowboys, Corpus Christi Hooks, Frisco RoughRiders, San Antonio Missions.

   

7. Tornado Alley. One MLB team, 1 AAA team, 4 Texas League Teams. Texas Rangers, Oklahoma City Dodgers, Arkansas Travelers, Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Tulsa Drillers, Wichita Wind Surge.

   

8. SEC Country. Six Southern League teams. Biloxi Shuckers, Birmingham Barons, Mississippi Braves, Montgomery Biscuits, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Rocket City Trash Pandas.

   

9. Tornado Alley North Division. One MLB team, 2 AAA teams, 1 Texas League team, 2 Midwest League teams. Kansas City Royals, Iowa Cubs, Omaha Storm Chasers, Springfield Cardinals, Cedar Rapids Kernels, Quad Cities River Bandits.

   

10. The Beer Run. Three MLB teams, 1 AAA team, 2 Midwest League teams. Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, St. Paul Saints, Beloit Sky Carp, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

    

11. The Hoosier State Holiday. Two MLB teams, 1 AAA team, 3 Midwest League teams. Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Indianapolis Indians, Fort Wayne TinCaps, Peoria Chiefs, South Bend Cubs.

    

12. “I Grew Up in Kentucky, I Don’t Wanna Go Back There”. One MLB team, 3 AAA teams, 1 Southern League team, 1 South Atlantic League team. Cincinnati Reds, Louisville Bats, Memphis Redbirds, Nashville Sounds, Chattanooga Lookouts, Bowling Green Hot Rods.

    

13. Florida Gulf Coast. 1 MLB team, 5 Florida State League teams. Tampa Bay Rays, Bradenton Marauders, Clearwater Threshers, Dunedin Blue Jays, Fort Myers Mighty Mussells, Tampa Tarpons.

    

14. Florida East Coast. 1 MLB team, 5 Florida State League teams. Miami Marlins, Daytona Tortugas, Jupiter Hammerheads, Lakeland Flying Tigers, Palm Beach Cardinals, St. Lucie Mets.

    

15. Peaches Come From A Can. 1 MLB team, 1 AAA team, 1 Southern League team, 3 South Atlantic League teams. Atlanta Braves, Gwinnett Braves, Tennessee Smokies, Asheville Tourists, Greenville Drive, Rome Braves.

    

16. The Palmetto State Pilgrimage. 1 AAA team, 5 Carolina League teams. Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Augusta GreenJackets, Charleston RiverDogs, Columbia Fireflies, Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

    

17. Murfree Country. 1 AAA team, 2 Carolina League teams, 3 South Atlantic League teams. Charlotte Knights, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, Salem Red Sox, Greensboro Grasshoppers, Hickory Crawdads, Winston-Salem Dash.

    

18. Hit Bull Win Steak. One MLB team, 2 AAA teams, 3 Carolina League teams. Washington Nationals, Durham Bulls, Norfolk Tides, Carolina Mudcats, Down East Wood Ducks, Lynchburg Hillcats.

    

19. OHIO! One MLB team, 2 AAA teams, 1 Eastern League team, 2 Midwest League teams. Cleveland Guardians, Columbus Clippers, Toledo Mud Hens, Akron RubberDucks, Dayton Dragons, Lake County Captains.

    

20. Mitten Country. Two MLB teams, 1 AAA team, 1 Eastern League team, 3 Midwest League teams. Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, Buffalo Bisons, Erie SeaWolves, Great Lakes Loons, Lansing Lugnuts, West Michigan Whitecaps.

    

21. The Quaker State Quest. One MLB team, 3 AAA teams, 3 Eastern League teams. Pittsburgh Pirates, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Altoona Curve, Harrisburg Senators, Reading Fightin Phils.

    

22. The Yankee Voyage. One MLB team, 2 AAA teams, 1 Eastern League team, 1 South Atlantic League team. New York Yankees, Rochester Red Wings, Syracuse Mets, Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Hudson Valley Renegades.

    

23. Clam Chowder Corridor. One MLB team, 1 AAA team, 3 Eastern League teams. Boston Red Sox, Worcester Red Sox, Hartford Yard Goats, New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Portland Sea Dogs.

    

24. Revolution Road. Two MLB teams, 1 Eastern League team, 3 South Atlantic League teams. New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Somerset Patriots, Brooklyn Cyclones, Jersey Shore BlueClaws, Wilmington Blue Rocks.

    

25. The DMV. One MLB team, 2 Eastern League teams, 1 South Atlantic team, 2 Carolina League teams. Baltimore Orioles, Bowie Baysox, Richmond Flying Squirrels, Aberdeen IronBirds, Delmarva Shorebirds, Fredericksburg Nationals.

    

And there you have it. The world of pro baseball broken down into 25 bite-size pieces. You can do it any way you want. Do you want a road trip with awesome scenery and destinations with some baseball on the side? California. Do you want to see baseball at every level? The Yankee Swing has one team of each. Do you just want to punish yourself? Take the Ohio piece.