After months of waiting and declining interest in other sports, the baseball season has graced us with its presence, and I could not have been happier.
As a lifelong fan of the game, when the opening day is on the horizon, anticipation comes and I feel like a little kid counting the days until Christmas.
This year was no different, and with all the madness that was the 2020 season, it almost feels like I’ve been waiting extra long for the game to come back.
With the first full 162-match season in two years underway and a limited number of fans allowed in the stadiums, the long-lost sense of normality returns.
Since everything went into lockdown mode last spring, some aspects of life have improved, while others have plagued. But the fact that an entire season can continue is encouraging.
I could always find time to watch a Major League Baseball game, even if my team is not one of the two playing.
It was a time before I met my wife, and long before my daughter was born and I was just a lonely student, MLB Network was the only thing on my TV.
That is, until seven o’clock Eastern time on weekdays, when the first batch of games for the evening began.
I always wanted to watch the Toronto Blue Jays, but also wanted to keep an eye on every game that was going on at the time, and would often carry it until late at night, when the first courses were thrown into play on the west coast.
Although my priorities and responsibilities have changed significantly over the past few years, I still try to be as committed as possible.
Over the last couple of years, and especially since the pandemic started, it became harder to do, and my passion became a little weaker.
The return to the professional baseball season as it was meant to be played has greatly restored the passion, and I am grateful for that.
I’m sure a majority of it has to do with the ability to introduce the game to my daughter eventually and eventually bring her into play when she’s a little older.
It’s a great and exciting time to be a baseball fan.
Hopefully this season will start a new decade of baseball, the right way to take the place of the wandering star who was the 2020 season - and the year, for that matter.
Joe Judd is a reporter for Pioneer. He can be reached at [email protected].