Baseball is back, baby

I presume I can speak on behalf of all Bruins fans when I say that Sunday night’s Game 7 loss to the Florida Panthers in the first round on the playoffs was a real kick in the Richard[1].

I went to bed that night with the taste of bile in my mouth and betrayal gnawing at my gut.

But as I lay awake in bed, my one salvation[2] was that the beginning of baseball season has been phenomenal this year.

On Saturday afternoon, my friend Brian and I attended our first Fisher Cats’ game of the season, where they lost 3-1 to the Hartford Yard Goats at Delta Dental Stadium.

And while the weather was overcast and late-April chilly—not exactly idyllic for baseball—Brian and I still grabbed a scorecard and two cold Bud Lights[3] and enjoyed some live baseball.

And despite only a handful of concession stands and beer kiosks open for operation due to it being so young in the season—which led to me switching to a Sam Adams IPA in the late innings and the wreckage of my scorecard—it was nice to be back at the ballpark.

The Fisher Cats have also made some renovations to the stadium, including new bullpens, and I can’t wait for that first cold beer while watching a warm summer matinee.

And, in case you haven’t been paying attention, Major League Baseball has implemented some significant changes, injecting a new energy into a sport that seemed on the verge of obsolescence.

The most notable change is the addition of a pitch clock to speed up the pace of the game.

In short, pitchers now have 15 seconds with the bases empty, and 20 seconds with a runner on, to throw the next pitch[4]. Hitters, reciprocally, need to be in the batter’s box and ready to hit with eight seconds left on the clock. If the pitcher takes too long, it is an automatic ball, and if the hitter isn’t prepared, it’s an automatic strike.

Now, I’ve always considered myself a bit of a baseball purist, and part of my love of the game is that it is not timed, which is part of its romantic and pastoral appeal for me. The game exists outside the confines and stresses of a regimented schedule.

But, so far, the pitch clock has made MLB games infinitely more exciting for fans to watch. Forget the fact that most of us don’t have three and half hours to devote to watching a baseball game[5], along with expediting the games, it has also led to more action, particularly base stealing and scoring.

Additionally, it seems that teams have relaxed their previously ascetic approach to showing emotion on the field and in the dugouts. Now individual players are more demonstrative, and teams are creating their own idiosyncratic homerun celebration rituals, thus galvanizing a previously restrained game.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I love the makeovers in baseball.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it sucks that the Bruins lost.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that switching from light beer wreaks havoc on your scorecard.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that baseball is back, baby. Play ball!

___________

[1] Figuratively for female fans.

[2] Yeah, sure, there’s also the sappy stuff like love, family and health for salvation, but they tend to elude me when I’m in self-pity mode

[3] The 16-ounce cans did not contain an image of Dylan Mulvaney.

[4] Before the addition of the pitch clock, some pitchers would work on their novels between pitches.

[5] While the sample size is still somewhat small, baseball games this season are already close to half an hour shorter than last year.