The Arizona Fall League has released its 2025 schedule for each of its six teams as well as organizational assignments, some of which rotate annually. For the second consecutive year, St. Louis Cardinals prospects will be a part of the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Other organizations staffing the Glendale roster are the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Chicago White Sox. Home games are played at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, the spring home of the Dodgers and White Sox.
League play begins on Monday, October 6th, with the Desert Dogs’ opener the next afternoon. There will be no contests on Mondays except for the first and last weeks of the season, with three league games most other days. Generally, two are in the afternoon and one in the evening, but there are variances.
The Fall Stars Game, pitting National vs. American Leaguers, will be played on Sunday, November 9th at Mesa’s Sloan Park (the Chicago Cubs spring training stadium). The Home Run Derby will be held there the previous night, on Saturday, November 8th.
The playoff format is new for 2025 with all six AFL teams participating. The top two seeds receive a first-round bye as the other four squads face off in single-game elimination games on Thursday, November 13. The two Thursday winners will play the top two seeds on Friday with the Championship Game on Saturday, November 15. The latter should be televised nationally.
The full schedule is here:
The wait is over, the 2025 Arizona Fall League schedule is here!
From Opening Night in Scottsdale to Fall Stars Weekend and our new Championship Series format, this season is packed with can’t-miss baseball. This fall, the future of baseball takes the field—don’t miss a single… pic.twitter.com/3FSYs3fWKY
— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) August 14, 2025
Broadcast details have not yet been released, but when they are, I will share it so you can plan to watch selected games via streaming.
Rosters for the clubs and coaching assignments have not been released for the AFL’s 33rd season. No longer are rosters announced as early as Labor Day. In 2024, the players invited to the AFL were not disclosed until September 25. So, it may be a long wait until we have those very important details.
Among the eight Cardinals who competed in the 2024 AFL are prospect infielder Thomas Saggese, outfielder Nathan Church, catcher Leonardo Bernal, plus pitchers Brycen Mautz, Matt Svanson and Ixan Henderson.
What is next
In upcoming articles and podcasts, we will discuss candidates from both the pitching and position player populations who might be chosen to represent the Cardinals this fall.
Once play is underway in October, The Cardinal Nation will post free daily recaps of all Desert Dogs AFL games including box score links, as we do annually. That way, you can easily follow Cardinals prospects’ results in the desert.
As has been the case for approaching two decades, I will be present for a week of the AFL with interviews, photos and eyewitness reports exclusively for paid members of The Cardinal Nation. Join today!
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