Let The Games Begin!

Did you hear it?

Did you see it?

Yup. That was actual real live baseball you heard on the radio. Those pics you saw on twitter weren’t (all) from last season. The Red Sox are playing baseball again!

That’s one more milestone down. Just one more to go.

Opening Day.

That’s the most important part of games starting. It means there’s nothing else to wait for until they start playing the games for real. It’s so close I bet you can almost taste it.

So, while we watch and listen we get to dream of the coming season. Sure, the games don’t actually mean anything. I don’t really care if Rick Porcello struck out every batter he faced today, or gave up a home run to all of them. Coming out healthy and prepared is the only thing that matters.

I sometimes wonder what spring training is like for other teams where several positions are potentially up for grabs. In the Red Sox line-up, I can think of one. Who will play center field. Betts or Castillo. Other than that, maybe last man in the bullpen? Last bench guy? I wonder if there were two or three positional competitions if the media would be less annoying about them. With just the one, they have to go into overdrive. Betts started the first game with the other regulars. Does that mean he’s in the lead for the position? As of the very first spring training game? That’s worse than reporting which team is “in the lead” for a free agent acquisition. Let’s just let it sort itself out.

Which always makes me wonder how these battles are supposed to play out. Just like last year with the Sizemore-Bradley Jr competition. Is a better batting average against college players really going to decide their fate? A better batting average over three weeks? Or, is it going to be about options, flexibility, depth, or whichever factor the Sox feel is important? Is it really going to be a .320 average vs a .290 one? Heck, even .410 vs .250?

But, it’ll all play out somehow. In that specific case, I’m not sure there’s a wrong answer. So, I’m free to just sit back and enjoy the action. Enjoy seeing players pitch and run and hit again. Enjoy the fact that baseball is being played somewhere right now.

And hope that nobody gets hurt.