A feel-good start to a feel-good MLB season

Sight of fans in stands at spring training games is cause for optimism.

Trey Mancini stepped up to the plate for the first time since discovering a cancer that could have killed him.

Tommy Pham got a couple of at-bats in after a stabbing that nearly did kill him.

Feel-good stories weren’t hard to find as major league spring training games opened in Arizona and Florida. Mancini’s comeback after a year off to treat his colon cancer left some of us on the verge of tears, while Pham’s return to the Padres’ lineup after being stabbed outside a strip club was reason for a smile.

And, as always, more players were feeling better about their bank accounts, including third baseman Hunter Dozier, who agreed to a $25 million, four-year contract with the Royals just as the exhibition games began.

The best feeling of all? That would be looking into the stands in both states and seeing fans there to watch the games.

Actual fans, to be clear, not the cardboard variety that were cute to begin with but now thankfully need to find new homes in closets across the country. There weren’t a ton of fans because of coronavirus restrictions, but there were enough to make a difference and give us hope that this year will be very different from the last.

“I hit a ground ball but just hearing the fans kind of spark up,” Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said. “You hear that instant crowd reaction. Kind of had little butterflies getting back to your first at-bat.”

That was pretty much the reaction from players around both the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues. They were not only happy to be playing again, but thrilled by the return of fans to the spring training ballparks.

Dahlberg