The Cactus League’s future seemed as bright as could be after it set a record for attendance in 2005, but shadows hang over the 12-team league this year.

The Cactus League’s future seemed as bright as could be after it set a record for attendance in 2005, but shadows hang over the 12-team league this year.

Despite unemployment brought on by the economic slump, Amy Lutchen isn’t about to miss skipping out on Chicago’s snow for Arizona’s warmth and the opportunity to watch her beloved Cubs.

Year after spring training year, the pendulum tied to Arizona’s Cactus League seems to find itself swinging the other way. One year it’s the players front and center; that was the case this month – and in the East Valley in particular - with the arrival of future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols to Tempe Diablo Stadium.

With Wednesday’s opening of the spring training baseball season, Arizona’s Cactus League and Florida’s Grapefruit League are on the verge of parity. But the same cannot be said for the East Valley and the West Valley.

Steroid controversy. Randy Johnson in pinstripes. Sammy Sosa going to the birds. Barry Bonds being day-to-day. And rain in the Valley of the Sun.

Scott Bordow: Take a couple of sick days in the next month. Grab some friends and make some new ones. It’s Opening Day in the Cactus League.

The pitchers and catchers are warming up at practice fields around the Valley. Their teammates and fans are on the way. The first crack of the bat will mean Cactus League baseball is at the plate.

It has been just more than a decade since the Cleveland Indians ended a half-century relationship with Tucson, folded up their teepee and moved to new spring training digs in Florida.

About 40,000 tickets to the three World Baseball Classic games scheduled for Chase Field have been sold so far, but that hasn’t seemed to affect ticket sales at Cactus League parks.

About 40,000 tickets to the three World Baseball Classic games scheduled for Chase Field have been sold so far, but that hasn’t seemed to affect ticket sales at Cactus League parks. The 12-team Cactus League drew a record 1.27 million fans last year and this year should see similar numbers if advance ticket sales are any indication.

About 40,000 tickets to the three World Baseball Classic games scheduled for Chase Field have been sold so far, but that hasn’t seemed to affect ticket sales at Cactus League parks. The 12-team Cactus League drew a record 1.27 million fans last year and this year should see similar numbers if advance ticket sales are any indication.

As the expansion Colorado Rockies searched for a spring-training home, Joe Garagiola Jr. took two of the team’s executives on a ride to the West Valley to show them his vision for the Cactus League.

Our View: Mesa is taking its own big league hitters to the Windy City next month to make what they hope will be a winning pitch to keep the Chicago Cubs in the East Valley for spring training. Tthis particular play speaks to just how much Mesa values the Cubs as the premier baseball franchise of the spring Cactus League.

The Los Angeles Dodgers may begin spring training in Arizona sooner than scheduled. Like, next March.

The Super Bowl will attract about 150,000 visitors to the Valley during the next 10 days, and taxes on their hotel rooms and rental cars will help pay off the cost of building the host stadium.

State lawmaking saved spring-training baseball 14 years ago. State lawmaking is about to dismantle it for no other reason than spite. Legislators backing Senate Bill 1264 should find their maturity and leave it alone, or risk its coming apart and moving out of the state entirely.

The Oakland Athletics are negotiating with Mesa to move their spring training operations from Phoenix to where the Chicago Cubs now practice, the A's announced Monday.

I know it’s March. Endless talk of brackets, buzzer-beaters and basketball. Blah. So what. Boring. Who cares? Instead, how ’bout beers, beanbags and baseball?

When Bill Keller landed a store manager’s job with Dillard’s department store in the Valley 34 years ago, his wife, Dianne, said she wasn’t excited about moving to Arizona, much less Mesa — from Minneapolis.