So another Major League Baseball season is a few weeks away. If you're a betting person, you can check MLB odds at BetUS. But I can already tell you who will win this year. The Reds, of course!
I have, as you know, been enjoying warmer weather than most of you for the whole winter, but this past week was really the first week when I felt spring, you know, that deep-in-your-soul kind of rebirth that makes you crave to hear the words "Play Ball!" The season of baseball's beginning is precisely what makes it so different from other sports. We've been frozen all winter, suffering through a colorless void, artificial heat, and static electricity while scraping windshields and suffocating from cabin fever.
But we know all of that is about to end when our bat-wielding heroes go south to scrap off the rust in preparation for another grueling season. It doesn't matter if you're a Yankees fan with perennial hope for a winner or a Pirates fan for whom a winning season has about as much of a chance as peace in the Middle East (it could happen) - just the sight of those shiny new uniforms in Spring Training photos is physically stimulating and mentally warming.
Even with the decade of the aughts being a disaster for the Cincinnati Reds, I can't say it was the same as being a Pirates fan. At least we had good offenses over the decade. At least there was always an outside shot that we could play baseball in October. At least we had a 2004 Sports Illustrated cover. At least we had 2006 when hope survived into September.
BUT.
This year.
2011.
We are expected by many to repeat a division championship!
It has been 7442 days, 15 hours, 3 minutes and 10 seconds at the time of this posting since the Cincinnati Reds last won a World Series. Here's to hoping I can take that countdown off the page come November. Do we have a real shot? You can bet on it.
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1 comment:
I actually agree with your Reds prediction, and I'm not even a Cinci fan. With the Cardinals' injuries, the Cubs instability, and the general weakness of the rest of the division, the Reds really have to be considered favorites to win the NL Central again. Now, I'm not positive they'll win the World Series just because of that, but, as the Giants proved last year, once you're in the playoffs you always have a shot. Sure, the Phillies' rotation is scary, but they're also old and Chase Utley-less for the foreseeable future. Not sure anyone has said this during spring training for at least a decade, but: the Reds do have a real shot to win it all.
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