For the longest time, I’ve always had basketball at the top of my list of favorite sports to watch and play. Basketball always had the most allure: it was faster, quicker and you can play by yourself in a park or court.
As fun as basketball is, once it’s over, I switched over to baseball in the summer. I loved watching the St. Louis Cardinals continue their pursuit of another World Series title (still looking for number 12).
More than anything, it’s a yearly ritual that helped pass the time between the Finals and the start of the next NBA season.
Now, you ask, “why does a journalist who lives in Southern California support a team in Missouri?” Especially with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels around or even all the teams in California, it’s kind of weird.
My answer is simple: the Cardinals were the first team I watched.
Back in 2004, my family lived just outside of St. Louis and coming from Ireland, I had no idea what baseball was. So in school, I got indoctrinated in the ways of the Cardinals and since then, I’ve been a fan, no matter where I lived.
That said, perhaps what really drew me into the Cardinals was Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.
Down two in the bottom of the ninth with one strike left against the Texas Rangers, David Freese hit a two-run triple to tie the game. Then, two innings later with the game tied at nine, he does it again. This time, it’s about 420 feet to straight-away center field.
I’ll never forget my brother and I celebrating at LAX, hearing Joe Buck exclaim: “We will see you, tomorrow night!” Seeing them win the World Series the next night was great, but nothing will ever compare to Game 6, in any sport.
Since then, I’ve been with the Cardinals for the ride, through the ups and the downs. Regardless of what happened, I always looked forward to how high the Cardinals soared the next season.
So, after making it to the NLCS in 2019, I couldn’t wait to see what 2020 had in store. Considering everything going on, looks like I’m going to have to wait a little longer.
With Opening Day being pushed back to who knows when, it’s safe to say that I miss seeing the Cardinals play.
More than that though, I miss baseball. Especially seeing the amazing home runs and pitching that would’ve been all over the internet (here’s looking at you, Shohei Ohtani). I miss the exhilarating double-plays or the outrageous catches that Mike Trout would make.
I miss what was going to be the Houston Astros’ shame tour against the teams that they’d play. But more than anything, I miss just talking about baseball with other people who love to watch the game.
In all, nobody knows when baseball is going to be back. Considering everything going on at this moment of uncertainty, anything pertaining to sports is secondary at this point.
Whenever baseball does come back, I know one thing: we’ll be glad that it’s back in our lives.
But for now, I, like many others, are all missing baseball.