When Hurricane Andrew flattened the Indians' new facility in August 1992, the team sought refuge in Winter Haven at Chain O’Lakes Park, which was built in 1966. Yet over the past 15-plus years, neither the State of Florida nor the City of Winter Haven proved successful in working with the Tribe to renovate or build a mutually-agreeable new spring training facility.

The same scenario unfolded with the Rangers, Royals and Reds. Homestead was rebuilt but has remained vacant, and so, too, do Vero Beach and Winter Haven, and soon, Sarasota (the Orioles, playing at aging Fort Lauderdale Stadium, may move to one of these cities in 2009).

Since the late 1990s, when the Braves' new facility opened in Lake Buena Vista and the dual-use facility in Jupiter, only two new spring training ballparks have been built or significantly renovated in Florida — the Phillies debuted at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater in 2004 while the Rays start anew at Charlotte Sports Park this season.

Smaller renovations have taken place at the Mets' complex in Port St. Lucie and elsewhere, but only this offseason was a brand new Florida spring training project announced, as the Red Sox will play at a new facility in greater Fort Myers starting in 2012.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Pain on the skating rink, flying high on the hardwood, upsets on the football field, and more. more photos

As for next spring training, MLB could have a major scheduling pickle on its hands, with an odd-number of teams, 15, in both Arizona and Florida.

It’s hard to imagine MLB owners, front office personnel and the host cities pleased with at least one team off each day throughout March. That’s a loss of a lot of potential revenue. And unless next year’s slate of games goes absolutely mad for split-squad games on a daily basis, MLB itself will have to get innovative and might consider inviting the 2009 champions of Japan’s pro league and Korea’s pro league to balance out the calendar.

One team could play in Vero Beach and the other in Tucson, sharing the two-team facility the White Sox vacated. Fans would get to see a different style of baseball, two cities could get an infusion of tourism, and spring training will indeed be a long, long way from the lazy days of late March 1992 when the Angels were still training in Palm Springs, Calif.

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Joe Connor is a freelance writer. He’s the author of "A Fan's Guide To The Ultimate Spring Training Experience” which is available for purchase exclusively at his Web sites: www.modernerabaseball.com and www.mrsportstravel.com.

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