Happy Opening Day!
The most wonderful time of the year is finally here...
We’ve made it, everybody…
Baseball is back. Finally.
Opening Day - the most wonderful time of the year - is here and we’re all set for a mouthwatering feast of 13 games on Thursday.
It should have been 15 games, but rain put paid to the Opening Day festivities for both the Mets and the Phillies. They will open their respective seasons against the Brewers and the Braves, respectively, on Friday instead.
There’s still nothing quite like Opening Day, and I’ve always stood firm in my belief that baseball does it right when it comes to marking the start of a new season in style. Every team should be in action on the first day of a new season. Period.
From the pageantry to the patriotism to the hope that engulfs every single team at the start of a new year, Opening Day really is a special and cherished day in the sporting calendar and one I’ll never, ever get tired of.
Opening Day is one of my all-time favorite days of the year. And there isn’t really any other competition.
As I write this, I’m already getting giddy about the prospect of nailing myself to the couch (not literally, don’t worry) and indulging in a beautiful 13 hours of nothing but baseball.
Today is going to be euphoric.
I can’t wait to be blown away by Corbin Burnes and his filthy cutter in his debut for a juggernaut Orioles team. By the way, what an Opening Day it will be at Camden Yards after David Rubenstein was approved as the organization’s new owner on Wednesday. I can’t wait to see Juan Soto in the Yankees Pinstripes for the very first time. I’m excited to see Shohei Ohtani make his home debut for the loaded Dodgers. I, along with the rest of the country, can’t wait to marvel at rookie phenom Wyatt Langford as the Texas Rangers begin their World Series defense against the Cubs.
Wait, there’s more. I’m intrigued to see if the Blue Jays can finally, finally, finally take the next step in their maturation process. I’m hyped to see a Reds team full of young studs continue to take the sport by storm. I’m beyond hyped to see a fully healthy Mike Trout attempt to put the Angels on his back again. And, as someone who just loves the game of baseball, I’m going to be glued to my TV as elite stars in the ilk of Bobby Witt Jr., Aaron Judge and Julio Rodríguez take center stage on Opening Day.
If you ask me, Opening Day should be a national holiday and if I ever became President, that would be my first major decision.
I’m not joking. Opening Day would be a national holiday for everybody by the time we got to dinner on my first day in office.
You can take that to the bank if I ever get the chance to run for office one day. Keep that in mind when it comes time to vote.
Anyway, back to the serious stuff, I really just can’t wait to bask in the beautiful glory of baseball being back on Thursday. And, indeed, all weekend.
Because that’s the stunning thing about America’s National Pastime. From today through to the final day of the regular season in late September, we’ll have a whopping 2,428 games to digest and marvel over. Then, of course, we’ll have the unbeatable drama of the postseason for the entire month of October and some of November.
One of the plethora of reasons why Opening Day is so special is because it marks a seven-month marathon of non-stop baseball. And what’s not to love about that?
On every single day for the next several months, there will be a slew of baseball games no matter what. And I can’t begin to tell you how happy that makes me.
I may not be from America. I may not have grown up playing Little League and being exposed to the sights, sounds and smells of the ballpark. But, let me leave you with no doubt here, I absolutely adore this breathtakingly beautifully game.
I live it. I breathe it. I obsess over it. Every single freaking day.
Baseball is just the best and I am beyond lucky to be able to write about it on a full-time basis.
I’m also a true baseball nerd and Opening Day marks the official start of me embracing that label. From today onwards, I will be embracing every storyline, living every pitch, analyzing every at-bat and obsessing over every single statistic.
I cover the Mets but I’ll be paying a lot of attention to every other team in baseball, and I’ll be watching as much minor league baseball as I can too.
I’m also that kind of sick baseball-obsessed fan that will devour every single pitch and at-bat of a Pirates-Reds game or a Royals-White Sox matchup on a random Wednesday afternoon in May or June. And I won’t regret a single second of it, either.
I just love baseball (sorry, have I told you that already?) and I’m the happiest man on the planet now that we have baseball back in our lives every single day for the next several months.
So, while I will be watching hours upon hours of baseball until my eyes burn out on Opening Day, I’ll also be doing that for the next however many days until a World Series champion is crowned sometime in November.
I’m going to soak in the return of baseball today, before thanking my lucky stars that the best game on the planet is back in our lives and we have that blessing every single day.
Baseball is back, baby.
Enjoy Opening Day, everyone!