This team, man.
The Cleveland Guardians are sending me back to my teenage years.
When I was 14 years old, I would listen to the 1997 Indians and live and die with every game. If they lost, I’d stay up too late trying to figure out how they could have won. If they won, I’d be too excited to go to sleep. It’s the baseball season, I can sleep in the other five months of the year.
28 years later, I have four kids and two jobs. And, yet, here I am, not wanting or seemingly able to go to sleep because the Guardians are bringing me some kind of unexpected joy that I need to spend as many possible seconds enjoying as possible.
Oh fine, I’ll be a responsible adult. Fine. I’ll google the 1914 Braves.
Last place on the fourth of July, wow. Their winning percentage in their final 87 games was .782… hey, what’s the Guardians’ winning percentage in September? Oh… it’s .782. Hey, what did the Braves do after that comeback? Oh, they won… the World Series…
Oh, right, anyway, as we were saying. I am so excited about what I have learned this season. I remember saying in early June that we were 2 weeks away from a Junis DFA if he didn’t turn things around quickly… and it feels like he hasn’t given up a run since then. I liked the signing, but he had a 7.11 ERA in May, folks. It was CONCERNING. Anyway, I need to always remember that veteran relievers mostly get to their levels when it’s all said and done.
I am going to be such a menace after this season, guys. When everyone tells me that a Guardians’ team is bad or isn’t going to make a run… I am going to say, “Hey, I thought that after the 2025 Guardians lost 10 in a row, and they gave me such a surprise. So, don’t give up, you whippernsapper. Baseball has some miracles up its sleve for us.”
I find myself getting philosophical, also. Unfortunately, I have seen some difficult health situations develop in the lives of folks I care deeply about lately. I have been hoping and praying for miracles for them. And, here I am, with a miracle currently unfolding before me. If only their bodies could acquire some relentless Jose Ramirez antibodies somehow and do the same. But, maybe, just maybe, baseball can be a fun, pointless, silly reminder of some kind of core eternal truth… never look at life waiting for the other shoe to drop. Never look at a new day as the next twist of a cruel fate unfolding. Never assume you know the final chapter of a story you’ve never read and you’re not writing. There may be some hidden joy and enduring hope beneath the folds unfolding in front of us all.
It’s at least something worth believing. Thanks for that, Cleveland Guardians.
Category: General Sports
