It’s finally here! – the crack of the bat, the smack of a ball hitting a glove, the smell of the fresh cut grass in the air!

Ok, maybe not the smell of the grass through your television screen, but Dodgers baseball is back! – and not a moment too soon!

Dodgers pitchers and catchers officially reported for Spring Training at Camelback Ranch-Glendale on Thursday morning, although most have already been in camp for several days; as have a good many position players, who aren’t officially due to arrive in camp until Monday for the team’s first full-squad workout.

The first thing that Dodgers fans will notice, especially those who trek across the Arizona desert to Camelback Ranch-Glendale (the Spring Training home of the Dodgers and Chicago White Sox) in person, is that a number of familiar faces are noticeably missing, including and especially longtime Dodgers third baseman and unofficial team captain Justin Turner, who Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman elected not to re-sign as a free agent and was quickly snatched up by the Boston Red Sox this offseason.

Also noticeably missing is fan-favorite shortstop Trea Turner, who Friedman also elected not to re-sign as a free agent, which the Philadelphia Phillies (very) quickly did.

Instead, Dodgers fans will find CBR-Glendale full of fresh new faces from ‘Down on the Farm,’ as they say.

“I love the youthful enthusiasm, because sometimes, when you’re around something for so long, you get a little jaded and that’s human nature,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters during his first media scrum of the new year on Thursday morning. “But I think just to have some young guys that are just wide-eyed again, it’s just like ‘You know what, man? It is fun.’ … So I think that’s going to filter throughout the clubhouse.”

But fans aren’t the only ones who will miss those familiar faces at the desert oasis in Glendale, AZ

“Once we get that full team meeting and look around and not see [Justin Turner, Trea Turner, and Cody Bellinger], it’ll be weird for sure,” Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw told reporters.

As Dodgers fans painfully know, Friedman declined to offer Bellinger a contract extension primarily due to what his agent Scott Boras was seeking – not to mention his combined .192 batting average over the past two seasons. Instead, the extremely popular 27-year-old Scottsdale, AZ native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2013 signed a hefty one-year/$17.5 million contract (plus incentives) with the Chicago Cubs which includes a mutual option for 2024 or a guaranteed $5 million buyout.

But back to the good (great) news.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Dodgers released their television broadcast schedule which includes every Spring Training 2023 game, all of which will air on their flagship station SportsNet LA as follows:

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As beloved Hall of Fame Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully would say:

Play Ball!

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