MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Eve of Opening Day

Once again, the bunting is out and the grass is cut. The rosters are set, every team is tied for first and the fans are full of hopes and opinions.

Opening Day. It’s a holiday in my family. My ex-wife once said she married into baseball and I guess that’s true, seeing as how she has managed to get tickets for tomorrow just as I have, despite the fact that our parting has made finances challenging for both of us and has forced us to give up the season tickets we held for the last ten years.

Opening Day is overshadowed only by the biggies, Christmas and Thanksgiving. It has more tradition to it for us than the Fourth of July, or Easter, or Halloween.

I love this game. And though I am mindful of the fact that tomorrow is a day where it is fashionable to be a fan, I still enjoy it just as much. The playoffs are that way too, you know. I can be as much of a “real fan” snob as anyone at times, but the fact of the matter is that Opening Day 2008 is far less hopeful for most teams. Yes, the National League West has changed dramatically this off-season. Yes, we should be raising another flag tomorrow, like we did the previous two years. The fact that we aren’t is painful. After all, Matt Holliday still hasn’t touched home plate.

But it never should have come down to that. And because tomorrow is a new season, now we can start moving past that pain. I won’t say we can erase it, because we never will. The Padres now have a “Bucky Dent” moment, a moment we can all remember and groan. And that too, is part of baseball.

So we will go tomorrow and think about what might be. Think about how deep this team is, and about how we could still very easily go to three post-seasons in four years. Think wild thoughts about Jake Peavy winning back-to-back Cy Youngs, or how maybe Chris Young can do it this time. Think about what will happen if Brian Giles really is healthy for the first time in three years, if Scott Hairston can play like he did in September, if Kevin Kouzmanoff can hit like he did in every month except April. Think about how good we can be if Mark Prior, Tadahito Iguchi and Michael Barrett can return to Chicago form. Imagine what it will be like if Khalil Greene and Adrian Gonzalez can continue to progress towards stardom, if Josh Bard and Cla Meredith can continue to make BoSox fans wring their hands.

What if Trevor Hoffman can put himself within striking distance of 600 saves and come back for 2009 to get it? What if Greg Maddux can get into the top five all time in wins? (He needs 17.)

Every year is exciting. And on the eve of Opening Day, all of us can dream of that ultimate “what if?”

What if this is finally the year?

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 30th, 2008 at 11:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.