A Happy Place

I hope everyone is healthy and safe. As you may have noticed, I have been rather quiet as of late. I’ve been taking time to be careful, protective, and thoughtful during the pandemic.

And at the same time, I've been growing more and more weary watching campaign ad after campaign ad, over and over again. Frankly, we could solve many woes with the money being spent on all of this political sewage.

But I'm not here to talk about that.

When I have moments of frustration, sadness, or even boredom, I quickly reach for something that always brings me to a happy place: baseball. And I have to give props to Major League Baseball for this season. It was a short season full of rule changes and other challenges, and the playoffs were welcomed with the introduction of a bubble in neutral playoff cities, including the World Series. The bubble went into place when the playoffs were decided. Not only have there been minimal setbacks in the bubble as it relates to the virus, but the neutral sites in warm climates assured that no teams were playing in 34-degree weather.

I know what the purists are saying about the loss of tradition, but perhaps some of these changes were needed in our oldest sports league. It’s honestly nice to see playoff baseball in which weather doesn't play a role in the outcome. And extra innings starting with a runner on second base is very exciting. The intense pitching strategy that results from more consecutive games with no travel days has been fascinating. Not to mention the expanded and adjusted rosters for advancing teams has added even more to the strategic excitement of the game and gives teams a better chance of playing their best roster against formidable opponents. Tampa had a payroll of 58 million dollars playing the Dodgers with a payroll of 225 million dollars! It's great to see those teams have more of a shot. That said, adding more teams to the playoff pool gives us the chance to see some excellent teams we wouldn't have seen in the format of the past.

Whether it's because of the shortened season or the rule changes or simply the added motivation behind the players and teams, I'm not sure, but this has been outstanding baseball played from the regular season all the way through the playoffs. Five playoff series leading up to the World Series went to the maximum number of games!

I don't want to forget to mention the pure joy of watching Mookie Betts. The way he plays the game is perfect, and I rarely ever use that word. He plays hard, with passion and does everything with precision. Mookie does things you can’t read about; you have to watch his every move. And the best part is his smile. He is the perfect team player that we would all love to work with one day, because he makes everyone around him better.

To many of you reading this, it may be boring or uninteresting, and that’s ok. For me, baseball is where I go when I need to escape. Find your own go-to place to manage these trying times. Our lives are precious, and we must find outlets of joy, outlets of sanity, outlets that allow us to see the light that we all need.

Stay healthy.