A Whole New Game

It’s here. It’s on. The excitement of baseball comes back to fans in a season shortened to 60 games due to a pandemic. Is anyone else excited? If you watched or listened to ESPN, the MLB channel, or just about any sports channel worth their salt over the last three weeks, the answer has seemed to be overwhelmingly “yes.”

New rules, including a designated hitter in the National League. Teams with taxi squads loaded with talent are lining up in the blocks to take a crack at winning in a shortened season. Why not? Years away means less in a shortened season. A team could win simply by staying COVID-19 free.

Due to roster construction and built-in depth for the season, this may be one of the most exciting seasons we’ve seen. Teams looking to develop future stars have included youth and recent high round draft picks that may provide fans with an untraditional early preview of what their team may look like in upcoming years. How many Robin Yount’s and Juan Solo’s will we see doing something special this year? Despite this being July, and not April, there is a glimmer of hope for a Marlins fan or a Tigers fan not expected to be felt this July, or even some recent Aprils.

Throughout the season, you and I will be the next fan up, with hope and excitement for baseball in a perilous and exhausting world of pandemic. And not just Marlins, Tigers or Cubs (oh my!) fans. Baseball fans. Fans of the National Pastime, fans of what we call the Beautiful Game - it is played on a diamond, after all.

I want to hear from you, what is awesome about the season, the whole new game, a team or what’s being said by owners, players and MLB reps. I want to hear what you agree or disagree with, from what’s being said and from what’s being written. What are you seeing from home? Do you miss going to the stadium? Do you like the rules that have been changed, or do you see a change needed?

Folks, we buy the tickets, the television subscriptions, the products and services advertised, the $20 hotdog, and the parking. We buy jerseys, hats and autographed souvenirs.

But we have very little say about the game we follow, spend time on, and dole out a lot of cash for. I think that should change. If you believe it doesn’t need to, let me know. If you believe it does need to change, then you really need to let me know. I think it’s about time.

Speaking of time, it’s almost time for game one of this historic season. I cannot wait. Perusing the MLB website, I caught an interesting note on opening game history, and hope that we don’t have a repeat for this opening game. Thanks to Michael Clair (@michaelsclair on Twitter), he provided the following in an article (https://www.mlb.com/news/weirdest-opening-day-games) “The weirdest Opening Day games in history” which is very entertaining and worth a read: “We all know the Yankees of the ’50s were an absolute powerhouse, reaching the World Series in all but two years that decade. So, it’s not a surprise that they destroyed the hapless Washington Senators, 19-1, on Opening Day in 1955.”

I’m having family over and splurging on steak for dinner…and of course, maybe some crackerjack for dessert. Time to get excited.