Would it be possible (if the game schedules cooperated) to make it to the Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins and St. Louis baseball games in a 2 week period. How far are these cities from each other? This year we traveled up the California coast went to all the games along the way and was wondering if this could possibly work the same way. Thanks for any input.

You can look up the distances at various mapping sites - mapquest.com, maps.google.com, etc...

Chicago to Minneapolis: ~410 miles
Chicago to St. Louis: ~300 miles
Chicago to Milwaukee: ~100 miles
Milwaukee to Minneapolis: ~340 miles
Milwaukee to St. Louis: ~380 miles

All above are freeway travel. Going in and out of Chicago, you can hit bad traffic. From Milwaukee to St. Louis, you bypass Chicago by going I-43/39.

Now, between Minneapolis and St. Louis, the freeway route (I-94/39/55) is ~635 miles. An alternate route is I-35 South to Clear Lake, IA, then take US18 to US218 to I-380 to US218 to US61. It's a mostly rural route, so even the non-freeway part is pretty fast. ~570 miles.

So, even the two furthest city-pair, you can drive within a day.

Gapper-this is totally possible. If you were really ambitious, you could the Royals and Tigers as well. KC isn't too far from St. Louis, and about a 7 hour drive from the Twin Cities. From the Twin Cities, it's about a 5 hour drive to Milwaukee, and then Chicago is just down the road. Theoretically, you could do all those games in a week if the schedules allow it.

Easily done in less than two weeks, you could even fit in Cincy.

MLB.com has most of the team schedules.

The two teams you want to plan on getting tickets early, because they often sell out, are the Cubs and Cards.

Your trip sounds like my 16 year old's idea of heaven! And I strongly agree with TKT's admonition re Cubs and Cards tickets. This past spring, I let my son go to school late the morning Cubs tickets went on sale. He spent an hour on-line with several windows open and got nothing! When he came home that afternoon, he did wind up getting tickets for one game. Of course, weekdays are easier than weekends.

And I know that TKT is right about the Cards 'cause my husband and son always hit at least one of their games each year. Next summer will be their first season in the new stadium. That, and their record the past couple of years, is going to make it tougher to get tickets.

White Sox tickets have, in the past, been easy to get. But next year, who knows?

Gapper, assuming you are going to fly into/out of Chicago?

What you might want to do (depending on the schedules, of course) is fly into Chicago and drive up to to Minneapolis/St. Paul area for the Twins game.

Then from Minn/SP travel down the Great River Road (along the Mississippi--one of the great road trips of the US) to St. Louis. Along the way, you could stop at Galena and Hannibal, MO, if you have any desire. If you have any chance to do this drive in the summer, this is the time for renting a convertible!!!

From St. Louis, drive back to Chicago.

There is Metra service many times daily between Chicago and Milwaukee so that isn't a big deal.

Hope the schedules co-operate where you could do this!

Oops! Sorry that's Amtrak not Metra that goes to Milwaukee.

What about making an early Spring holiday and go to Spring Training?

This is my dream kind of trip. I would def. add in KC and go visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Also, if you drive in Iowa, you could see the Field of Dreams in Dysersville, which is kind of dumb but fun. We also saw the Kernels play in Cedar Rapids Iowa. They are the Angels single A farm team; we did a big baseball road trip last summer but we focused on minor league games.

Individual team schedules may force you to do the trip in a non-logical geographic sequence. Depending on schedule, some teams make 10 day road-trips, for example, and that would be the only thing I could think of that would make the schedule impossible.

Also, mid-July is all-Star break - so plan accoringly as to when you plan your trip. I do not think all teams have released scheuldes yet, but I could be wrong about that.

You could also fit in a Detroit Tigers game - only about 4 hours from Chicago by car.

I'm considering a trip in the 2006 to see games @Kansas City,Milwaukee,Cleveland,and Pittsburgh as I really want to see those four parks! Flying to Kansas City,see the Royals,then Milwaukee,Cleveland and finally Pittsburgh.MLB.com has all the 2006 schedules up....

I travel for baseball all the time, and you could definitely do this one. The long drive to St. Louis can be extremely interesting. For instance, you can stop at Cahokia Mounds and see the ancient pre-Indian sites/mounds etc.

Ask by mail or email for the St.Louis tourist book/pamphlets from the State of MO.

They are terrific and offer great reduced rates to St. Louis game weekends and much more. Next year, be careful, because the new Stadium may not be done. You want to hit the new Stadium.

The Twins drive is a long drive and can get nasty in summer- but it is definitely doable to relax and see all 5 in 2 weeks- but you have to be a schedule wizard to work it out.

You could probably leave out the Twins and do Detroit and/or Kansas City for another combo with the Sox/Cubs/Brewers if that scheduling works better.

As far as tickets go, good luck! I won't buy scalped tickets or those resold at multiple times their original pricing- so I would buy them ahead of time and as soon as they go on sale.

For Pittsburgh, on a weeknight we just walked up at game time and got good seats cheap. I love Wrigley, so whenever I go I plan on two games in case of a rain out or a bad game. Also, its great just to be in Chicago.