The Boundaries Blur; The Boundaries Clarify
The Day Pitchers and Catchers Report / The First Day of Lent
17 February 2010
Indeed it is possible to hear “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and Allegri’s Miserere on the Same Day and in the Same Life, just as it is possible to take oneself too seriously and not seriously enough on the Same Day and in the Same Life. The golden mean may be, we can hope, not so elusive as the perfectly pitched game and perfect pitch.
The Baseball Fan observes with great devotion the days of the Baseball Season, both the lengthening and the shortening of days, and it became the custom to prepare for Opening Day by a season of reflection and prediction starting today as pitchers and catchers officially report for Spring Training. This season provided a time for fresh Converts and seasoned Fans alike to share with each other their allegiances and analyses so that conversations and correspondence, whether appointed or joyously unexpected, could begin with mutual understanding and awareness and end with keen and cool understanding of the boundless outcomes of a round bat meeting with varying force and direction a round ball.
I invite knot-holers of good will everywhere, therefore, in the name of the Game we love, to the observance of a truly great Season by self-examination and objectivity; by examination of Last Season’s Results; by reflection, contemplation, and self-awareness; by differentiation from past rivalries and present and obligatory pay-backs; and by reading and studying The Sporting News’ Baseball Annual, the sports pages, baseball blogs and websites, and, perhaps, conversing (at arm’s length) with baseball handicappers of renown (one of whom in The Great Gatsby famously sports cuff-links made of human molars).
Those of you whose predictions achieve a satisfyingly high congruence with the Season’s outcomes may fully expect an appropriate acknowledgment after the last pitched ball. To be considered for this honor, I shall need to have your predictions by Noon on Wednesday, Holy Wednesday, March 31, before Opening Day, Easter Day, April 4. No anonymous predictions will be accepted. The date and time printed on your email or envelope will be final in this Judge’s opinion.
And, to make a right beginning to the Season, let us now kneel in silence to determine how we shall pursue our studies and make our predictions for the whole Season, and to set forth those results in a timely way and in the manner of the schedule shown below.
2010 Baseball Season Predictions
Winners of Divisions and Wild Cards, League Champions, and World’s Champion
AL East:
AL Central:
AL West:
AL Wild Card:
AL Champion:
NL East:
NL Central:
NL West:
NL Wild Card:
NL Champion:
World’s Champion:
HS
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