Unlike their human counterparts, automated pitching machines are easy to control, predict, and tackle during mound charges. Prove that man indeed trumps machine with today’s deal: for $17, you get one hour of batting-cage time at The Yard (a $43 value).

The Yard is a state-of-the-art baseball training facility featuring multiple, full-length indoor batting cages with machines that hurl genuine, seam-laden baseballs. To abbreviate the ballistic learning curve, cages are outfitted with The Grid technology, which tracks the ball’s exit speed and provides a visual chart of where each hit would land if the cage had no walls or cruel, cruel gravity. A true trainer’s tool, The Grid emits constant feedback about changes in swing habits as well as up-to-date ratings against previous batters in the same swinging echelon.

Pre- and post-practice, Little League scamps and their big league elders can relax on The Yard's comfy leather couches, which surprisingly do not throw pitches, but do provide relief.