When the first pitch is thrown, it will have been 604 days since the Great Lakes Loons baseball at Dow Diamond.
It is a long time to have to wait for the excitement of baseball in society. It’s finally back, and fans should be thrilled.
I too am excited to have Minor League Baseball back after the entire season was canceled last season.
Yes, I’m new to the Midland area and have yet to experience baseball at Dow Diamond. That said, I’m excited to have the opportunity to be a part of society and enjoy the sport many of us love.
To exemplify what baseball means to me, my biography with the Daily News website mentions that I won a second-place sports column award from the Michigan Community College Press Association. That column was about how the Chicago Cubs won the World Series 2016 - I know, I know, Loons is within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization - and how the championship meant the world to me.
When the Detroit Tigers made the World Series in 2012, my family and I watched closely how my grandfather died in February earlier that year. I was pretty crushed when the Tigers were swept by the San Francisco Giants. I thought our “Angel in the Field” would lead the Tigers to victory and help take away some of the pain of Grandpa’s death.
From that point on, I did not watch baseball at all after the Tigers lost the meaningful World Series. That was, until 2015 when the Cubs made the National League Championship Series - was swept by the New York Mets.
I had a lot of excitement in the 2016 season. Especially in the record season when the Cubs beat the giants of the NLDS, the Dodgers (sorry, not sorry) of the NLCS and the Cleveland Indians of the remarkable seven-game World Series with the changing rainy season of Game Seven.
To say I cried that night would be true. Also to say that my love of baseball was reignited - that is an understatement.
The one story that makes me tear up, even still, is fans putting green apples in former Cub broadcaster Harry Caray’s grave the night Chicago won its first 108-year world series. Caray said after the end of the 1991 season: “The Cubs will be in the World Series, sure as God makes green apples.”
While Minor League Baseball is different from Major League Baseball in many ways, there is something special about local baseball teams, and the Loons bring that special to Midland.
Baseball means a lot to society, it means a lot to any society. But with what Loons does in Midland, it means giving to charities and helping build the city so much for both local businesses and Midlanders.
Having the season, after last season was closed, also means so much to the players. These guys trot out on the diamond and play hard to work their way through the Dodgers organization. Last season’s cancellation of Minor League Baseball was out of the question for the players, as they had to find other means to pay the bills while putting their baseball careers on hold.
With the restructuring of Minor League Baseball, the Loons are moving into the High-A Central League.
This season means so much to so many. For the players, they have the chance to resume their baseball careers; for fans, they have the chance to see Loons baseball - live baseball - for the first time since September 2019.
It will look different, there is no doubt about that. But we’ll have baseball, and that’s the most exciting part.
In the next few pages of our annual section on the team, you will find stories about the people who will make up the Loons’ team this year. President and general manager Chris Mundhenk has been around since the team’s inception; manager Austin Chubb will be the first former Loons player to lead the team. We also highlight how the players will handle living this season in a “bubble”, and we take a look at what the fan experience will look like this season.
In short, we are ready for baseball. I hope you are as excited about the season as I am. If you get a chance, say hello!
See you at Dow Diamond on May 4th.
Play ball!