Tonight it could all come to an end

You know why we’re pulling for Tampa Bay tonight? If for not other reason, then because it will push the sun up in the sky for a few more days and give us just a little more baseball to squeeze out of the year 2008. The matter at hand is that Philly can wrap things up tonight, and from the beginning of this thing we had Philly winning it in 5.

One difference we feel this year that we’ve never really felt before is that NFL football really isn’t creating a diversion making the transition from the MLB season easier. Nope, not at all. We want it to be Opening Day 2009 already. We want to see if the Reds can make it to the playoffs and if Jay Bruce can drive in 100 runs. We want to see where Adam Dunn is going to end up playing. We want to start drafting a new fantasy team now. To hell with quarterback controversies and waiting all week for 60 minutes of football action. We like baseball because it is there with you every single day. We aren’t ready to stop checking box scores or waiting all day to see the 5th guy in a rotation go up against a spot starter.

We want there to still be kids across the street from our house playing on the empty field at the park. We wanna long toss in the cold. The thing about baseball–that we love and so many others around the nation–is well, life distances you from the game sometimes. Sometimes we get tied up in our jobs or pulled in another direction in life. You get far away from that game that you love and that was at one point all that mattered to you (if you love it in the same sense we do). But the reason that baseball is the grand sport and so beloved is because when you are ready to return to it; when life slows down even for just a day, it’s that same old beautiful game. That same game that takes you to a different spot in your life, when things weren’t so busy or maddening. It’s simplistic and practical. It’s grounding. There’s something surreal and comforting about it.

For all these reasons, we wish the season could go on forever. The truth is, baseball could be over for 2008 tonight. Get ready to go crazy Philadelphia, we think Cole Hamels has it on lock down.