Baseball begins tomorrow. Which, for a lot of us, means that life begins again tomorrow, right? It does feel that in the winter, when baseball ends, the life is sucked out of us. All that is good in the world is gone. Baseball is what fuels us, it keeps us going. But why do we love it?
It really is a rather unrewarding and frustrating sport at times. I mean, even the best team in the league will lose 60+ games in a season. So why then, do our lives revolve around this sport?
In a season of major league baseball the most amazing things can happen, things that will make you jump out of your chair feeling absolutely elated. On the converse, things will happen that make you feel so terrible, angry, and upset, that you truly could tear all of your hair out. Moments will occur like a new young player coming out of Memphis and shocking all of Cardinal Nation with his stellar play, and also moments like Matheny putting in Bowman for the 12th game in a row, even after his arm has fallen off. Moments will occur like a walk-off home run hit straight to Freese’s landing that will send chills down your spine, and moments where the Cardinals lose so many games in a row, you’ll forget what winning feels like. And we absolutely love it.
Baseball instills a feeling in us that just cannot be described. It is the feeling you get when you watch James Earl Jones deliver the speech in Field of Dreams. It is the feeling you get when Game 6 is even mentioned. So I say, bring. it. on. Bring on the Matheny lineups. Bring on the gifs from @cardinalsgifs. Bring on the (well-deserved) complaints about the team. Bring on the home runs, and warm summer nights.
I don’t know if we are any better than last season. I don’t know if this will be our year. What I do know is that I am excited. Baseball is back, and I couldn’t be happier. Here’s to records that have yet to have been broken, and highlights that have yet to have been created. Here’s to the horrible “Sunday lineups”, and bullpen use. Here’s to the glorious ballpark nachos at Busch, and the heat pounding down on you as you sit in the red seats watching a game. Here’s to baseball, the greatest American pastime.
I hope you all have a great season, and I hope to see you at the ballpark.