In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to audition for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many college students.

Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in mid February and running until just before the season opening day (and often right at the end of spring training, some teams will play spring training games on the same day other teams have opening day of the season), traditionally the first week of April. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training first because pitchers benefit from a longer training period due to the exhaustive nature of the position. A week or two later, the position players arrive and team practice begins.

While Florida and Arizona now host all Major League Baseball teams for spring training, this has not always been the case. The Brooklyn Dodgers trained in Havana, Cuba in 1947 and 1959, and in the Dominican Republic in 1948. During World War II, most teams held an abbreviated spring training within easy reach of their cities. Before and shortly after big league baseball reached the West Coast, a number of teams trained in California. For example, early in their history, the California Angels held Spring Training in Palm Springs, California.

In order to conserve rail transport during World War II, the 1943 Spring Training was limited to an area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River. The Chicago White Sox held camp in French Lick, Indiana, the Washington Senators in College Park, Maryland, and the New York Yankees in Asbury Park, New Jersey.