Take me out to the Ballgame

I have to say one thing about Pittsburghers: they are very hopeful people. In fact, they hold out hope to the very last minute…hoping against hope while those of us who are not Pittsburghers gave up hope in August. Because it doesn’t take a baseball pro, coach or commentator to know that when you’re scrambling for pitchers and some of your major players on the DL that you’re simply not going to get that wildcard spot. And yet, Pittsburgh hoped with bated breath that somehow the Pirates would pull it off.

The truth is I don’t know a lot about major league baseball, although it’s history is fascinating. And the truth is I don’t know a lot about the Pirates line-up, coaches or roster. The truth is also that I don’t understand wildcards, play offs or the stats that get one team there above another. Finally, the truth is the Pirates did have a chance at a wildcard spot until last Tuesday…and, in typical Pirate fashion, they blew it.

Yet their Pittsburgh fans NEVER loose hope. In just a few short months, as soon as winter training begins, everyone around here will hang their Jolly Rogers and talk of the 2017 World Series as if it’s a given that the Pirates will be there and sweep the pennant in the first four games. But here’s the truth in black and gold, Pittsburgh: THE PIRATES HAVEN’T BEEN TO A WORLD SERIES IN MY ENTIRE LIFETIME. I simply wouldn’t hold my breath.

The sad reality is that the Pirates aren’t a bad team. Last Wednesday Ed and I went to a game at the beautiful PNC park where I ate French fries to my heart’s content (a pregnancy craving I don’t allow myself) and watched them beat the Cubs hands down. It was a brilliant night – good pitching, good hitting, good team playing. It was the kind of baseball game even a non-Pittsburgher like myself could enjoy: really good ball playing. But as the guy behind me so honestly shouted at the field, “Why didn’t you play like this when it mattered?” The exact question I had been pondering.

But the truth is, it is the just a game. And maybe the Pirates should always play as if it didn’t matter. For it really shouldn’t. That is why major league baseball was started: to give people a chance to put their lives on hold for a few hours and watch something that really didn’t matter. The players played because they loved to play. (Did you know that it was actually illegal to pay baseball players when the league started? Makes you wonder how many million-dollar-paid players would stick around if we went back to that. Likely none.) And the fans watched because they loved to watch. Just the way a game should be.