A Fast Start

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For the last five years I’ve noticed that someone in the A.L. East catches the benefit of a fast start because the schedule-makers give them an advantage.

Last year, Tampa opened 13-0 because they played 4 straight teams who finished last.

The Yankees drew a tough assignment last year and again this season. They opened in Houston - 4 games - I didn’t have a lot of hope that they’d do anything more than split the opening series.

And yet, here they sit at 4-0 and each game was a good one. Their new superstar, Juan Soto, was dominant.

There’s only one thing to do in such a situation:

Gloat!!!

Now, of course, that opens me up to a whole lot of aggravation when they do lose a game…

…and they will lose at least 50 of them. The greatest Yankees team I’ve ever seen won 125 games…

…even they lost more than 50 times.

It’s a long season and the thrill of baseball, for me, is that it’s a numbers game.

I look at every box score - I used to study them when I was a kid.

I know the starting rotation for every team and I can listen to a game on the radio (in fact, I love, love, love that), and I often listen to baseball talk all day long.

Even the greatest of all players fail 7 out of 10 times.

Pitchers get rocked.

Every team will lose a game or two by a score of 19-2.

There will also be games a game or three where they blow a 3-run lead with 2 outs in the 9th.

Baseball is a sport that depends on a long attention span.

I often think of my mother-in-law, who became a passionate Yankees fan because my boys loved them.

She would get so worried if they lost a couple in a row.

“What’s wrong with your Yankees?” She would yell.

“They’re okay,” I’d say.

“They swing at pitches that hit the ground!”

Sometimes, even when they’d win she would ask why they only “won by one stinking run!”

My mother-in-law was a football fan who was built for a 16-game schedule. Not a 162-game marathon.

“Just relax,” I’d say, “It’s a long season.”

I gloated a little this weekend…

…aggravated every non-Yankees fan I know.

But I know what’s coming…

…and I’m pretty sure I’ll hear about it.

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