Do you guys remember March?
I think I vaguely do.
Spring training was well underway. I remember everything seemed normal. We were talking about bullpen sustainability and whether the Lightning would choke away another playoff performance. We bitched about the weather and put the over/under on how many deadly hurricanes would hit Florida this season. Everyone bitched about politics by posting random poorly-sourced memes.
In fact, I kind of wished everything would just slow down for a bit. That the world would stop spinning quite as fast.
I was dealing with shit. I drank too much and slept too little. I was trying to balance an increased work load at my day job, and family, and a whole lot of other things.
But there was at least baseball.
Then a pandemic hit.
And everything stopped.
Baseball is good. It’s better when it is back. That’s why I haven’t been writing as much as I usually do. I didn’t want to jinx things. Like a no-hitter in progress, I didn’t want to talk about it. I never knew how much I missed having 1-2 curveballs in the dirt playing in the background again. I didn’t want it to go away again. I, like a lot of people going through some shit during this dumpster fire of a year, needed it.
But now that the season is in the home stretch and the Rays are arguably the best team in the American League, I’m allowing myself to day dream a little bit. I mean, what if this is the year for Tampa Bay?
What if, despite the entire country burning from its own stupidity, this is our chance as a community to celebrate a World Series together? I for one will fight anyone that tries to put an asterisk on that title. We’ve all been through too much the last few months. A World Series in 2020 would be the most Florida thing to ever happen to Florida sports.
The Rays just need to keep doing what they’ve been doing, except for the part where they keep losing arms like they are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
So why not? Why can’t the Rays be the champs?
Stranger things have happened this year.
And while we are at it, let’s get a Stanley Cup and a Super Bowl while we are at it.
That’d be so 2020.
