Pic of the Week

Snow and ice cover a playing field at the Rockies
training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Thursday.

Spring training got started a week or more earlier this year around the majors, mostly (entirely?) to give more prep time to the players scheduled to compete in the World Baseball Classic tournament, which begins early this month.

Perhaps as a result, the teams have encountered some squirrelly weather. The Twins had a couple of days in Fort Myers, Fla., in which workouts at least began in temperatures in the low 40s or upper 30s — warmer than Target Field on one day by just nine degrees.

Then there was the strange snow and ice that hit a few places in the Phoenix metro area, home to a number of spring training complexes.

Maybe it was timing. Or maybe it's just another case of the weather being the weather, and anything can happen.