It’s Opening Day 2014, This is your Opening Day Post

Time begins on Opening Day.

Today all of the hopes and possibilities of an entire year rest so bountifully in front of us all. It doesn’t just have to be about baseball. It can be related to life as well.

Opening Day is a signal that lazy, warm nights and the hot, blazing sun by day are coming. They signal that that eternal conundrum of baseball — that even the first place teams often lose four of every ten games, that the best batters barely hit their way on base cleanly a little more than three times out of ten, that this very hard game to play still, for all that, looks approachable and something anyone can do whether they’re eight, or sixty-eight, or any of the years on either side or in between — is about to begin.

Being a baseball fan is to acquaint oneself with loss, with defeat, with failure, and to still come away with hope.

That’s deep and if you’ve lived anything but a storybook life, you know it to be true. Who knows what the months will bring; but we should live them with a lot of hope that happier and more prosperous times lie ahead.

Everyone is in first place today, and everyone has hope. And it’s important to remember that in regards to the season that awaits us: we truly could see anything.

Every possibility is on the table right now – and with how unpredictable the greatest game on earth can be – you have to learn to never say never. The thought of those possibilities this morning are what causes the urges and excitement to reach it’s fever pitch.

Bryce Harper could make a run at 50 home runs and the youngest MVP award ever. Mike Trout could go 40/40. Homer Bailey could win 20 games. Jay Bruce could have the finest season of his career. The Astros could make a run at the wildcard – and even if the Astros don’t, some team is going to play Cinderella; at least for a while.

This will be the season that we welcome guys like Javier Baez, Noah Syndergaard, George Springer, and other young pups to the fraternity. How long they stay active members is a mystery, but it’s going to be great to see them make their debuts.

No matter what we see between now and that final regular season game in October, there’s always that renewed hope each day that keeps us watching. Even if your team is out of it – is each new day the day that journeyman hits three home runs? Does the fifth starter take a no-hitter into the ninth inning? Does your young star make a run at hitting for the cycle?

Baseball is the greatest sport on earth. As we begin this journey together today – all of us – it’s important to remember that the great thing about baseball is your could see anything.