It’s officially February now, which means that we don’t have too much longer to wait until we start hearing the crack of the bat and baseballs hitting mitts under the Florida sun.

Before that can happen and before even pitchers and catchers can report, all of the equipment needs to get down to the spring training facilities first. That process got underway here on Monday, as the Braves had their annual Truck Day at Truist Park. Again, it’s not quite as exciting as seeing the players report to camp but it’s still exciting enough since it’s the clearest sign yet that baseball is coming very, very soon.

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The Braves (via a press release) laid out the details of just how much stuff they’ll be taking with them from the Atlanta Metro area down to North Port, Florida.

Stood end to end, the number of baseballs (9,000) being sent to Spring Training would stand over 2,175 ft. in height – or more than five times as tall as the TK Elevator test tower, located in The Battery Atlanta, which is the tallest elevator test tower in North America.

If stacked end to end, the number of bats (432) would extend more than 1,100 feet – or the equivalent of approximately 160 Bloopers.

574 hats laid brim-to-brim would span nearly 300 feet – almost completing a full lap around the bases at Truist Park.

65,000 fluid ounces of water and Powerade — more than 500 gallons — is enough liquid to fill over 50 standard MLB dugout drink coolers, enough to line the entire dugout rail with coolers, end to end, with some to spare.

More than 2,000 pieces of gum is enough for one individual to chew a piece every day for nearly five and a half years.

I was able to go down into the depths of Truist Park in order to get a look at one of the trucks that was being loaded up to head down to North Port.

Blooper even got in on lending a helping hand, though it’s tough to say if he was working hard or hardly working down there.

The trucks officially departed for Florida at Noon E.T. on Monday, so I suppose you could say that the countdown to spring training can officially begin in earnest after that particular milestone. Pitchers and catchers are set to report on February 10, with the full squad being required to report by February 15. Considering how the past couple of seasons have gone for the Braves, I’d imagine that everybody involved with the squad is probably champing at the bit to get down there and get to work on what should hopefully be a bounce-back season for this ballclub.

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The Braves also unveiled some of the giveaways that they’ll be handing out to fans over the course of this 81-game season. DJourn posted a link to the 2026 Giveaway Schedule over in The Feed Of course there’s the expected selection of bobbleheads but the Braves have also decided to reach out to fans of different sports across Braves Country with some wearable giveaways as well.

There will be a football jersey giveaway with a design inspired by what the Georgia Bulldogs wear on the field, there will be an Atlanta Hawks-inspired basketball giveaway, a hockey jersey giveaway that’ll likely coincide with the Nashville Predators visiting Truist Park during June (in response to the Predators having a Braves Night this March) and then there will be a soccer jersey giveaway with the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in mind.

Atlanta Braves Director of Marketing and Advertising Jori Palmer was on hand for a press scrum explained the thinking behind the crossover jerseys. “[Crossover jerseys] are getting a lot of traction in the sports world,” said Palmer. “A lot of people have a Braves jersey, so [we] put a little spin on it and remixed it. We’ve got a football jersey featuring Michael Harris [II] because he’s a great football fan, a hockey jersey featuring Drake Baldwin because they guy’s good at everything (including hockey), a basketball jersey with Ronald Acuña Jr. on it because he’s good at everything (including basketball) and then a soccer jersey…with the number 26 on the back, which represents 2026 and the fact that Atlanta is hosting some FIFA World Cup games.“

The coolest giveaway on display (in my opinion) was the Chris Sale “Bobblecard.” This is a new idea that, as the name suggests, merges together the worlds of bobbleheads and trading cards. There’s a bobblehead and torso model of Chris Sale in the front and it’s contained within a box that has Sale’s stats on the back. I’d imagine that this is going to be a hot commodity once it drops on April 29 and Palmer made sure to mention that this won’t be the only “Bobblecard” given away during this season.

“It’s supposed to look like the front of a baseball card,” said Palmer. “And then on the back, you’ve got all the history, the stats, All-Star appearances…so it’s kind of like a 3D baseball card.”

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So, with the trucks officially heading down to Floriday ahead of spring training and the giveaways for 2026 being laid out, are y’all excited yet for baseball? Between this and the club’s solid offseason (which Jim Bowden of The Athletic graded out at a B+, for what it’s worth), the smell of baseball is starting to float into the air once again. Ervin Santana isn’t with the team to see or smell it but you can still start getting excited for Braves baseball, nonetheless.