Before baseball, there was mace-maul, a medieval sport in which players wore chainmail uniforms, no-hitters were a bad thing, and each team’s disabled list was much, much longer. Train for a more civilized sport with today’s Groupon to The Cages in Brandon. Choose from the following options:

• For $15, you get a 30-minute indoor batting-cage outing (a $30 value).
• For $20, you get a 30-minute indoor batting-cage outing and 60 Iron Mike pitches (a $40 value).
• For $25, you get a 60-minute indoor batting-cage outing (a $50 value).<p>

The Cages stocks four hitting cages with three slow- and fast-pitch machines that help baseball and softball players calibrate the mechanics of their swing in a neutral environment void of game-day pressures. For a 30- or 60-minute bout with a pitching machine, dugout denizens of all ages can share their time with family, friends, or teammates. Players should pack their own bats, helmets, gloves, ready-to-be-cultivated sunflowers, and other baseball provisions. Once properly equipped, batters saunter over the cage’s green felt to toe the batters’ box and size up their automaton opponent. Fast and slow pitches hurl into the strike zone, dishing up servings of muscle memory as hand and eye follow bat to ball, hips swivel on the swing, and arms follow through as balls rifle back up the middle. Those who seek a more-realistic diamond showdown, and are 11 or older, can stare down the Iron Mike and its arm-style release that fires toward home at 25–85 miles per hour, or can turn around after a bad pitch and argue with the umpire.