AT LONG LAST
Baseball’s back, bringing hope and optimism
Finally, let’s play ball.
MLB’s 60-game season starts Thursday with the Yankees vs. the Nationals in the nation’s capital. Then the Giants visit the Dodgers to get things started out West.
This is an important moment.
In these turbulent days, we’ve had UFC and boxing and golf and auto racing and soccer. And now we’re getting baseball and basketball. The WNBA season starts Saturday with three games, including the Sparks vs. the Mercury. The NBA, meanwhile, returns to competition July 30.
Sports represent hope, which we haven’t had enough of lately.
Diamondbacks reliever Archie Bradley spoke about it on a video call, recently. He knows there are unprecedented challenges out there. But what he said is a reminder that we have to learn to live with these challenges, rather than run or hide from them.
“I think we all have to be realistic with what’s going on,” he said. “But I’m always gonna err on the side of positivity — the good side.”
‘Very optimistic ... very positive’
The Diamondbacks open on the road against the Padres on Friday. From there, it’s the ultimate oxymoron, a long-distance sprint: 60 games crammed into nine weeks.
Bradley knows that adjustments might be necessary, and he’s OK with that. It doesn’t matter where they play. What matters is that they’re out there playing, and that they’re being as safe as possible while they do it.
“As long as we can play the season, if it’s on a college field, a high school field … The whole world is making adjustments, right now. Us as big-leaguers, ‘us’ as owners, ‘us’ as fans, ‘us’ as reporters, we all need to be willing to make those same adjustments if we want to play this season.”
Bradley sees how this season fits into the bigger picture and thinks it can move forward as scheduled as long as everyone has the right attitude and stays willing to remain flexible.
“I’m very optimistic and very positive that if we can all have that attitude and be on the same page with wanting to play, and (if we can) understand there’s gonna be changes and adjustments and adversity, but at the end of the day, we’re getting to put a uniform on, we’re getting paid for it, and we’re getting to go play baseball -- then my confidence is very high,” he said.
‘It means something’
It’s a short season, but that’s OK. That’s what it has to be this year.
“If it’s 60 game or 100 games, I don’t care. We’re playing for a World Series this year,” Bradley said. “That matters. It means something to me and my teammates.”
Bradley has been close before. Remember 2017?
He was unhittable, throwing gas and filth that was so nasty he even garnered MVP votes.
He and the Diamondbacks fell short in the playoffs that season, but how much would another October run mean this year?
This is an important moment, and Bradley and his teammates seem ready for it.
“We’re very confident and very optimistic,” he said.
Finally, let’s play ball.