It's Official, The Major League Baseball Season Has Been Delayed
Living life as a cynical person is the only way to go. I saw this coming two seasons ago. Most people did. I'm not some genius for seeing it, but I think every fan always held out hope you always hold out hope that at some point, cooler heads would prevail. Guess what? They never did, and now, baseball will be without a proper Opening Day for the third consecutive season.
I don't know how many games we'll see in 2022. I know there will be a season. Perhaps we'll play 140 games, maybe we'll play 120, or maybe we'll only play 80. I don't know at this point because these sides seem to be far apart still. We will have an Opening Day, though it won't be the one that we deserve. The damage is done. The embarrassment and the failure are complete. This moment feels like the ultimate slap in the face for the die-hard fans of what used to be America's pastime. Most of the fringe fans have already left. They've left a sport that's done a pitiful job of marketing its young talent and making the game more accessible to its young viewers. But people like me, the people who show up in 30° weather on Opening Day to watch the 100 loss team go to work, are those who should feel insulted because those are the people who've kept the torch lit in regards to baseball fandom for years.
Today was the nail in the coffin for a shameful era of Major League Baseball. The last three years will not be remembered as an era in which young stars like Fernando Tatís Jr. came into their own. It won't be remembered for Shohei Ohtani's historic 2021 MVP season. These last three years will be an era in which baseball stopped mattering to so many people. The best ability is availability, and Major League Baseball has consistently refused to show up for itself.
Personally, what makes this day so tragic is that I know I'm the sucker here. I don't know when Opening Day, but I'll come crawling back to Comerica Park like a sick puppy whenever that day comes. I'll be the one guy out in left field watching Casey Mize warmup for the first of 100 games. It matters to me. It will always matter to me, and I know it matters to fans of the team I root for, but it's time we accept that nationally, baseball, for the time being, is no longer a major of the cultural zeitgeist. Those in charge have no one to blame for themselves.
While we're at it, let's stop pretending like there's anything good about this. I'm so done with the phony optimism.
"Well, now we get to watch the minor leagues!"
Okay, and?
"There's always the Korean league."
God bless them, but I have no plans of watching that.
"You get to have more time on your hands!"
WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WANT TO HAVE MORE TIME ON MY HANDS?!
It's an angry moment, and baseball fans everywhere should be allowed to be angry. I'm aware there's a whole contingency of people who don't care about this considering what baseball has done over the last decade to ruin itself. It doesn't fall on the players, coaches, managers, or the people that bust their asses to make this product the best they can be. This whole thing has sunk like the Titanic because the theory that so many people have had for years has turned out to be true- THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL DON'T CARE ABOUT BASEBALL! Shout that shit from the rooftops if you have to because it's the goddamn truth. I will never fall out of love with a game of baseball, nor do I expect any die-hard fan to, but I will never forget this feeling. I hope those in charge live with their failure for eternity. I'll see you on Opening Day, whenever the hell that may be.