Four weeks from today pitchers and catchers will report to baseball camps in Florida and Arizona, and the first spring training games will begin on February 20th. Hope springs eternal for baseball fans during the spring, and so even though my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, lost 102 games last season, the team is loaded with promising rookies and could finally turn things around this year. I am not talking playoffs, but perhaps this year, finally, they might play .500 baseball. Which means if you watch one of their games, they might actually win. What a refreshing change that would be. As for that North Side club, the Chicago Cubs, they finished 2nd last year in the National League Central and made the playoffs, winning the Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres before losing the Division Series to the Milwaukee Brewers. Could they go further into the playoffs this year before blowing it? Which they will, of course, since they are, after all, the Cubs. And of course, my adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, who lost 119 games last year (a full two games less than the worst record in the history of baseball, a record currently held by my White Sox), have had a complete change in management and are now being run by people who actually know something about baseball. They will probably lose over 100 games again this year, but at least fans know that they are finally on the road to respectability. Look for a .500 season from them as early as 2030. In the meantime, enjoy the view from the upper deck of Coors Field. And yes, I am once again featuring the photograph above of spring training back in 1996 at Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the Montreal Expos and Atlanta Braves used to train and where I attended a number of spring training games. That was, I have to add, a time when you didn't have to shell out $60 to see a game played mostly by rookies who will never make it to the majors. But enough complaining - it will be good to have baseball back.
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