Ah, with the scent of tree pollen and allergens throughout the air, and with a winter that never was behind us, we know that the warm weather is coming because the Major League Baseball season, for all intents and purposes, starts today.
Yes, the Mariners and the A's actually opened the season last week in Japan, but how many of us really paid any attention to that?
And yes, the Marlins officially opened their new stadium yesterday with a game against the World Champion Cardinals, but although their 500 real fans paid attention to that, most of us didn't.
Today is the day, and I can't wait.
You just know that summer is around the corner when baseball begins.
Sure, there is a little nip in the air this morning in my neck of the woods, but baseball almost brings out the warmth.
It's like the two go hand in hand.
Baseball is the game that brings me back to my childhood (see photo). I can be a kid again when I watch a major league game, not the 55-year old that I nearly am right now (we'll have to wait 23 more days for that occasion to happen).
It's just such a fun game, with nuances that only fans can truly understand.
The Cardinals will be looking to defend their title without Albert Pujols, who went for the money to the greener pastures of California with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, or whatever they call themselves now.
The Texas Rangers have won the American League pennant two years running after never having won anything under that name. Remember, they are the descendants of the old Washington Senators, so losing is almost their middle name ... but not for the past two seasons.
The New York Yankees, my team, won't begin their season until tomorrow, when they play the Tampa Bay Rays. That is a good way to begin the season: two of the best teams in baseball facing off against one another.
I just hope that they get some fannies in the Tropicana Field seats for these games, and that the Yankees come out on top, of course. When you go to a Yankees-Rays game in Tampa, you swear you are in Yankee Stadium South, with so many Yankee fans at the game. I've done it, and it really is amazing.
Right now, the only game I know I am going to is at the Trop. When my family goes on vacation, we will be seeing the Rays and the Mariners. Not the best matchup, but I hope to fulfill my quest to get a foul ball this year, a quest that began in 1965 at my first game.
We have seats right behind the Mariners' dugout, so maybe our wish will come true this year. I will have to wait until July to find out.
We will go to a Yankees game, but that won't be for a while. I will get tickets later in the season, probably through a secondary source. The Yankees basically sell out every home game, or at least sell out in the seating areas that are barely affordable for people like me, so I have to go through a broker to get a seat.
My predictions: I think the Yankees and the Cardinals will face each other in the World Series, and the Yankees will bring home another World Series championship to the Bronx.
We'll know if I'm right in about six months.
Anyway, let's not jump ahead of ourselves: the 2012 season is about to begin, and I can't wait.
Play Ball!
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