703 words about March Baseball.
My fellow Guardians Fans,
Good evening. Whatever type of winter you endured we finally arrived at the beginning of the Major League Baseball season. As of this typing there are two regular season games under our belts; both were a lot of fun. You can’t ask for more from baseball as a fan. Fun. Give us the fun. We want the fun. Gotta have the fun.
The return of baseball and peak March Madness always feels like an inflection point in the year for me. The holidays are good and truly over. The sun stretches its arms, yawns, and decides to start trying again. People poke their heads outside and open windows, some swallowing fear to offer their neighbors a kind “Nice day, huh?”
This year feels a little bit different and I think there are a lot of reasons for that. One is because of the backdrop this season must take place against. It is not a political statement to point out that there is a good deal of unrest in the country’s politics right now; it is natural to gravitate toward fun diversions that we can grab onto for meaning-making. There are milestones to reach, streaks to extend, slumps to break. Baseball offers so many nooks and crannies for hiding in a good story that its return to “the timeline” just now is intoxicating, honestly. When I started writing for this website in 2016 I very much used baseball as a place to hide. Hiding from your own life isn’t exactly advised but allowing yourself a hobby or two to simply enjoy and grow with? That won’t hurt, especially if it is baseball. There is a difference between following and hiding, though; between letting something inform, guide, and entertain and losing yourself to it.
There are important lessons that can be learned from participating in and watching sports and it is actually part of the reason that they exist and continue to draw so much attention. I’ve found myself wondering if there is much of a difference between following a sports team and obsessing over reality television. Yes, the actual activities and people depicted are as different as clay and dust but what about the audience connection? I like it when the team wins but I’m also invested in Kyle Manzardo turning warning track power into serious clout while showing off why the team didn’t “do more” this offseason. There is a much longer conversation to be had about the downstream impact of youth sports and community involvement as compared to media that glorifies idiocy, but the magnetism isn’t so different. I want stories. Struggle and triumph and adversity and even a justified downfall here and there.
It’s nice to get lost in something else. I say this as someone who dealt with some terrible heartache and harassment the last few years while trying to put a life back together. It is good to be back in a public space with a public conversation where we are all focused on something fun. This is close to saying something like, “Two cats playing is very cute,” but when chaos spills over everything it can be powerful to stop and state something very simple to remind yourself how easy things can be. It is, in fact, possible to keep things separated and enjoy one thing while another part of life is a coal seam fire.
It is valuable to connect over something that we all enjoy and that’s more important than staking out a claim or a space or a take. Fellow Guardians fans, let this be a season where we care so much less about whether or not predictions or outcomes or goals are accomplished. Let’s sink back into the sun-warmed plastic with a cold drink and enjoy the show.
Baseball is fun. Watching it is fun. Talking about it is fun. The world continues to turn and we are told that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice but in the meantime there are 160 more baseball games to enjoy while time continues to warp it all.
Thank you. Jobu bless you, and Jobu bless these Cleveland Guardians.