By: Mike Carter
This is the first time in a long time that I do not know what to write about for the site. No April surprises. No teams storming out of the gate. No teams struggling. No rookie taking the world by storm.
Last weekend I just got some fresh 9 Inning Know It All gear. I put that on today and thought that might inspire me.
It’s 60 degrees on a Sunday here outside Chicago. A bright, beautiful sky, fresh winds and plenty of sun. I did my yardwork this morning and should be watching the tail end of a Sunday afternoon ball game on TV, cracking a cold one and putting my feet up after a solid morning of work. I tried to watch the reruns of the WATL…don’t know what that is? It’s the World Axe Throwing League. I am grasping at straws here. I gave up on it.
Instead, I am on my front porch thinking about what one writes about when you work for a baseball website and there is no baseball.
9 Inning Know It All has started a podcast in the last few weeks and if you have some time (which many of us do right now) I would suggest you give it a listen. It’s a different take on things and is really fun!
I am also working part-time at SP Streamer, writing about fantasy baseball and giving casual fans advice on players that aren’t playing yet. You can read articles at spstreamer.com and follow me on Twitter @mdrc05608. It’s great fun if a bit hollow right now.
I will say that the first couple of weeks without baseball I was hanging in there. I read a few books. I went for long walks alone. I took a couple of drives around town. I did some safe social drinking with friends in the driveway. I scoured the waiver wire for my fantasy teams and set my lineups. But it hit me this week, just as the weather started to turn better here (we did get four inches of snow here on Friday). I can’t turn the tv on and watch a game. Some friends have been watching old games on MLB Network, but I struggle with that. I already know how those games end, and so the mystery that we so love about the game, about how each game is its own statistical set, is gone, and I just don’t care to watch it.
I know, I know. First world problems, right? People are sick and dying all over the world. Doctors and nurses and frontline staff are beating the odds and using every resource available to them to help others. Over 25 million people in this country have filed for unemployment benefits; the unemployment rate has passed 20% in this country. Many are going to their local food banks for assistance (support these worthy causes if you can, they need help to meet the need). Families are juggling the demands of domestic life, schooling their kids each day, while managing their own jobs from the kitchen table. I look on the bright side and thank my stars that I essentially have a recession-proof job and that I have more than enough work to keep me busy.
But I miss our game, and no amount of work, kid stuff or yardwork takes that away for me. There are now rampant rumors going around about potential plans to start a season. There has been some talk of division realignment and games to be played in Arizona, Texas and Florida. Rosters may be expanded past the 26 man limit; there is some talk of 30 man rosters to start the abbreviated season. There is even talk of the universal designated hitter, which is needed in baseball. I don’t pay to watch pitchers hit; I pay to watch them pitch. It’s time to take the bat out of their hands, “strategy” be damned.
To be honest I don’t care how they realign things or where and how they play as long as they can play and keep the players somewhat safe. I forget sometimes that like us, players have families, too. There is much to think about in this regard. Players like Zack Wheeler and Mike Trout are expecting children this summer; what do they do? Do they not play? Do they play, leave when the baby is ready to make its first appearance, and then come back and quarantine for 14 days? What if a team is in the middle of a pennant race and they lose five players to illness for a month? How will MLB test the players repeatedly throughout an abbreviated season? How will the players be paid? How will fans access the games, with the caveat that we won’t be able to physically attend but could watch on TV? So many questions we do not have answers to at this time, but I am becoming more cautiously optimistic we will have baseball this summer.
I read a few weeks ago that we need to use this unexpected time to determine which “normal” we want to return to in the world. For all the major problems the Covid-19 virus has caused, there has also been a silver lining in some of this. I have slowed down. I have set better limits around my work even though I remain surprisingly busy. I am spending more quality time with my kids and realizing they are cool little people. They are sharing their music with me more, their hopes, and their fears. I hope you are having similar experiences.
I know baseball will remain a huge part of my new normal, whenever it gets here. The debates will return. The sounds and sights of this great game will be back. And hopefully we will all appreciate it and the tremendous players in it even more. I have been so hard up for baseball that I am watching the players play “MLB The Show” against each other with Robert Flores moderating a discussion between the two athletes. I am pulling for Lucas Giolito but Blake Snell and Joey Gallo have been running away with the Players League! You can imagine the looks I get at my house: a supposedly grown man watching other grown men play a video game on TV! Didn’t I criticize my son for doing this just a few short months ago?
I feel like we as humans have become engaged once again with each other in some very important ways. We are scheduling Zoom happy hours with friends. We are checking in on each other. We are going out of our way to be kinder to others and strangers. We seem to be understanding the daily stress so many of us reckon with all the time; we have slowed life down. Can we keep that understanding and these gains when the quarantine lifts? Can we remain this vulnerable and this human? This can be a far better world brought together by crisis and I hope it isn’t ripped asunder when this unique time in our history draws to an eventual conclusion. Let’s not lose these unforeseen gifts. And remember do not drink disinfectant or put lights into your bodily orifices, either.
Hang in there! Hopefully the next time I sit down with a blank piece of paper we are ready to start watching baseball again!