How to Steal Spring Training

A Simple Plan to Bring California’s Baseball Teams Back Where They Belong

As Major League Baseball teams practice for the opening of a new season, some fans dream of home runs from an up-and-coming star. Others pine for strikeouts by their team’s top pitcher. But I, as a baseball fan and a Californian, am rooting for a steal—of spring training itself.

You could call my plan Stealing Arizona. Today, not one of California’s five major league teams—the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim—holds spring training in its home state. If California fans …