I don’t want to see the Red Sox winning the World Series, so I didn’t watch last night’s game.
I spent all day today crabby about the result, wondering why none of the stories about how the Red Sox are one of the greatest teams ever mention their payroll, when for years you couldn’t read a story about the Yankees or Dodgers without mentioning theirs. (I don’t mind that they spent the money, but God forbid the Red Sox be anything other than the gritty white hats.)
Then it hit me tonight.
Baseball season is over.
My wife and I went to games this year at Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, New Hampshire (if Vladimir Guerrero Jr. becomes the star everyone assumes he’ll be, I can say I saw him play on my birthday an hour from my house.)
I saw Aaron Judge hit a homer, which was awesome.
I also saw them get outclassed by the Red Sox in every way, which definitely was not.
One reason, perhaps, for this declining interest is that keeping up with a baseball team is practically a full-time job. — “The 2018 World Series Was Good for the Red Sox —- And Bad for Baseball,” Hayley Glatter, The Atlantic
Yes, games are often too long, and playoff games should absolutely start earlier (West Coast friends, bail out on work early if you can. It’s fun!)
And analytics drive me crazy, even if and when they do make sense. Let the pitchers pitch! Steal bases! Do something other than try to hit home runs! Strikeouts aren’t the same as any other outs!
But while baseball has its issues — I actually read a proposal to make the season four months long, in part to get away from the NFL — following it isn’t a job. Yes, the season is long, but you can hop on or hop off anytime you want.
What’s important is that it’s there every day.
Until, all of a sudden, it’s not.
I just checked @MLB out of sheer habit, then realized … that’s it. No more baseball until 2019.
— Paul D. Gallagher (@paulgallagher) October 30, 2018
Someone put an Arizona Fall League game on TV. Is a team of Major League all-stars going to Japan this year? Any winter league games streaming on the internet, from Mexico maybe?
The season has only been over a day, and it needs to hurry back.
A Silly Place 