Baseball Blues - Seasonal Depression - The Japanese Invasion - Ghosts of Springs Past - Oakland Fans
Hit em where they ain't
Seasonal Depression
March is finally here! That means we are in the home stretch right before Opening Day. Before you know it, we will have multiple games every day until the All-Star Break. Isn't that exciting?
I need some excitement right now. Life has been fucking insane for the past few weeks. Money trouble, family trouble, personal issues, and work have all convalesced into a shitstorm of epic proportions. Sometimes, I like to refer to these incidents as a "Perfect Shitstorm" because it feels like three different ones meeting together to topple life completely.
I am in a better mental space than years prior. I've realized that things will never be perfect. Times are tough for lots of people. I don't want to get caught in the same fog as I did before.
Hitters often discuss managing their way through a slump during the season's midpoint. Everyone has their way of navigating that situation. It speaks to how we all handle struggles. Some alter their swings and their timing. Others are content with trying the same thing over and over until they get a breakthrough. Many lose all their confidence and never return to what they once were. I think all of us can relate to these scenarios in some fashion.
I've had to change my approach at the plate. It took years to do it. I still don't feel comfortable in particular spots, but I also have accepted that there are things that I will never be in control of. That pains me and brings me relief at the same time. It's hard to explain. I yearn for certainty in a world that was born from chaos.
I grew up Baptist, where we believed that God created heaven and earth. Even with the story of divine intervention, there's chaos and disorder. Eve was deceived by the serpent, the original sin was committed, and now we all needed God's saving grace to gain eternal life. I was taught that people were imperfect and the only thing that could give them any peace or serenity would be the Holy Ghost.
I don't find myself as deep in my beliefs of Christianity as I did when I was younger. I do think being a good person and following the teachings of Christ are essential. I try my best to not focus on things like blessings being as important as people make them out to be. Blessings are blessings. They should be appreciated, but in the end, the end goal shouldn't be attaining them. One shouldn't do good to receive good. They should just do it for the sake of putting positivity out in the world.
In baseball, there's never been someone who could hit a home run every time they stepped to the plate. There's too much variance to deal with. Sometimes you aren't ever going to get the pitch you want, and sometimes you simply want to put the ball in play. In cases like sacrifice flies and bunts, you’re trying to advance a runner while earning a productive out. You accept your role in helping the team win, even if that means you have to play a smaller role than what you envisioned.
That's how life has been for me, recently. No homers. No spectacular web gems. Just putting the ball in play and doing my best to advance to the next base. I fucking hate it. I hate the lows so much. I always have. But the difference between now and back then is that I no longer hate myself.
I also am going to practice more self-care and love myself a little more. I think that will help immensely.
That's a start. I'll do my best to work with it. Plus, I have people in my corner who make it easier to get through the hard times. Sometimes you just need to look back at the dugout and see how many people appreciate you.
But I’m Big in Japan
Speaking of baseball, since this is technically a space to write about it, the buzz around the diamond has centered on the debut of both pieces of the infamous billion-dollar payroll that has surrounded the boys in blue. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani made their Spring Training debuts, with both men looking impressive during their outings.
While the hype surrounding Shohei was immense, I feel like there were more questions regarding his counterpart, though those were quickly struck down as we witnessed Yoshinobu strike out three over a very impressive first start. Ohtani, at the time of this writing, has gone 7 for 12 at the plate.
I gotta say this as a lifelong Dodgers fan: I find it odd to see this kind of attention coming LA's way.
There were prior years when I felt excited about the upcoming season. There were also ones where the media did follow the team before the season extensively; the big Matt Kemp years and the early Kershaw ones come to mind. But this level of attention feels novel. I've never seen so many people interested in Spring Training games. The amount of excitement that surrounded Ohtani's first game was baffling.
I like it, but I also feel my anxiety rising inside of me at times. Baseball does that. Because it's a large component of my life, the highs and the lows from the season can play a huge role in my mental health. I try to pay attention to that, but I tend to forget how easily this sport can take a dark turn.
Ghosts of Spring Training Past
When I think of Spring Training, I often think of when I was a kid and would end up going to a random game every so often. Tucson used to be home to exhibition games. Even when the majority of teams moved out of here, we still would get one-off games on occasion. The last one that I went to here in town was at Kino Stadium, oddly enough a stadium that we built solely for baseball that now hosts mostly soccer games, when the Dodgers faced the Cubs. That was the last Spring Training game in Tucson. I sat behind the visitor's dugout and caught a buzz. It was a great way to end spring baseball in the city.
Another game I think about is when I was a senior in high school and my buddies and I ended up ditching so we could go catch the Diamondbacks and the Cubbies1. Shawn Green had just left the Dodgers for the Dbacks, and he ended up cracking a moonshot that made me jump out of my seat. My friend Josh asked why I was so excited about an Arizona homer, and my only response was that I had always loved Green, and I was just happy to have witnessed a home run in person after all those years of following his career.
Spring is everyone's favorite time of the year when it comes to baseball because we're all on even ground. Even with having two superstars like Ohtani and Yamamoto, everyone still has the same record of 0-0. But, we still get to see players develop and prosper right before our eyes. It's sorta like a free lunch, but you still have to pay the $150 that it costs to purchase MLB.tv in some cases.2
I love it. I always have. I feel the anxiety giving way to true excitement. As you get older, you find yourself getting enthusiastic about different things. A great tax return. A raise at your job. Having a lower blood pressure reading than the last time you were checked. But baseball in the spring will probably always be one of those joys in my life. Even if the Dodgers were horrible, I would still find myself getting pumped for the season. I have no choice in the matter. It's been programmed in my head for a long time.
Oakland Fans
I am fond of Oakland fans, even though I'm not a fan of the Athletics. I grew up supporting the Raiders, so I rubbed a lot of shoulders with fans from the Bay Area. Though I don't have much of a reason to feel the plight of Oakland A's fans, I do think it's terrible that the Athletics will soon be calling another city home. I don't buy the reasoning behind ownership leaving the Bay Area, which is that attendance is awful and there's no market for a team to flourish. The real reason behind this comes back to the Raiders. The city didn't want to foot the bill for a new stadium, and the owners didn't have the funding to build it themselves.
This story has been ongoing for years. The reason I know the ins and outs is due to the Raiders leaving for the same locale as where the A's will eventually end up: Las Vegas, Nevada. I guess you can't blame them, but most sports teams are owned by rich guys who like playing with other people's money. That's the name of the game when it comes to many different businesses. The sad aspect of it is the dishonesty that comes with it. John Fisher, the current A's owner, keeps selling the story that his hands are tied. The truth is that Fisher had 20 years to try to make the A's into a winning team, and he was unable to. The other side of the coin is that Fisher's former GM, Billy Beane, is one of the main reasons we see so many teams nickel and dime their way to building rosters rather than spending money to entice big free agents.
There are some amazing memories when it comes to Oakland baseball. One of the coolest things you will ever see is former A's closer Grant Balfour's entrance. Balfour struggled through the early part of his career until he found his niche of coming in during later innings as a set-up man or to close out games. He was instrumental in the memorable 2013 playoff run. Balfour was a throwback to older times when pitchers would come out and do their best to intimidate batters rather than finesse them.
How can you not find this entertaining?
One thing I discovered and love about Oakland fans is that they are incredibly passionate about their teams. If you give them a reason to come to games, they will come. But when you choose to keep on fielding lackluster squads who produce lackluster results, of course, they will choose to put their money elsewhere. Guys like Balfour, Barry Zito, Miguel Tejada, and so many more were able to captivate Bay Area fans for years. I think the excuse of not having a passionate enough fanbase is a huge crock.
Now, we move on. The wheels have already started turning for Oakland losing its last pro sports team. There is still hope that Fisher will end up selling the team, but the chances of that are slim to none. The truth is, just like it was in the famous book, Moneyball, cash is king. If moving to Vegas is more profitable in the long run, then Fisher is going to do that, regardless of the fan's reaction to his greed.
The last note I want to add to this tale is that Fisher was one of the reasons why his father didn't move the San Francisco Giants out to Tampa Bay in the early 90s. Kinda a weird preamble to his current form, I would say.
Til next time!
Yeah, I know, I saw a ton of Chicago games growing up - that's not even mentioning the WGN games that were played on television.
Remember, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.