The Cage Batting Range

The Cage Batting Range is a solid form of physical activity and cheap fun. Whether you’re looking for a unique date idea, a fun group activity or actually trying to work on your batting game I’d recommend checking out The Cage.
The Cage is located just off 16^th ave and Home Road in Shouldice Athletic Park. There’s free parking and getting a spot is never an issue. They offer fully automated batting cages from slo-​pitch to softball to baseball. There are 3 in the Slo-​pitch variety, 2 softball (1 medium, 1 fast) and 2 baseball (1 medium, 1 fast). Slo-​pitch and softball tend to be the more popular options and sometimes you’ll have a couple people in front of you, so you’ll have to wait your turn. There’s kind of an unwritten code of friendliness here though where people only use 1 token (20 balls) at a time and then let someone else have a turn rather than taking consecutive turns. So that’s nice :). Baseball is a little more intimidating for most, especially the fast ball. I still enjoy taking it on though and it makes for a harder challenge. The Slo-​pitch machines serve pretty easy lobs as do the softballs. These can be a little less consistent at pitching imo. but this is where you probably want to start if it’s your first time. I personally find that baseball serves the most consistent pitches, although the odd one can be finicky. Play around with where you’re standing to find the right sweet spot.
Bats and helmets are provided for your use at no additional cost, but you can also bring your own if you prefer your own equipment. Helmets are required for baseball only and you’ll be given a different kind of bat depending on the game you choose (slo-​pitch, softball, baseball). Prices are pretty fair, 1 token = 20 balls; 1 token = $ 5, 5 tokens = $ 20, 10 tokens = $ 30 or by time: 30 minutes = $ 40, 1 hour = $ 70. So if you do the math the quantity discounts are significant. I usually prefer splitting 5 tokens for pairs or getting the 10+ tokens for larger groups. I probably wouldn’t recommend the timed rental unless you’ve been a few times or are working on your actual game. They also do reservations.
The Cage is good affordable fun for a number of occasions, I’d definitely recommend checking it out at least once and deciding when you want to come back after that. It’s not something you want to plan your whole day around, just a small element. I’d say 15 minutes to an hour depending how many rounds you want to get in.