Please Don't Argue With Me About This - USA vs. Japan Is A Big Fucking Deal And Here's Why
Tonight should be one of the most widely-watched baseball games of the 21st century. Probably #1 if I had to guess, but precision's not my business so who knows. Point is we got a game tonight at the pinnacle of America's Pastime: Just one game left to crown a champ.
It creates such a unique experience for literally everyone. We'll be watching so I'll focus on that perspective. But it certainly applies to the players, staff, umpires and everyone in between.
There's pressure behind every pitch. A leadoff walk is gonna send you to one side of the spectrum. An 0-2 base hit is gonna do the exact same. You're gonna watch Merrill Kelly - many of you for the first time - like he's your own son taking the mound for his 10u house-league championship.
JUST LIKE WE PRACTICED IN THE BACKYARD
You're gonna get mad at shitty calls and casually shrug off the ones that go your way. You'll actively judge Mark DeRosa and complain about the American pitchers that sat out.
Everything about tonight should be an elevated experience, and I want to emphasize how rare that is in this sport. That's the point of this blog. I'm here to pay my respects.
162 regular season games. Another two dozen exhibitions in the spring. Maybe another dozen+ more if you're lucky.
60-something different men will wear your team's uniform at some point this season. And along the way, you'll forget more than you could possibly remember. That's largely because your brain is subconsciously trying to protect you from the pain of trying to rationalize Aaron Hicks getting 500 plate appearances, or how the Red Sox will start Corey Kluber on Opening Day, or whatever pain your owner voluntarily causes you.
It's a torturous sport, no doubt.
For most of us, the light at the end of the tunnel is the ever-fading hope that one day, our club competes on the sport's biggest stage. That we'll get to skip work in October to watch a 3pm Division Series playoff game. That we can watch playoff games with family and loved ones and compete for a championship. The club's success forces you into offseason attention along the broader narrative of pursuing a championship.
That's the peak of being a baseball fan, and unfortunately, most of our clubs are on the outside.
My run as a "we can win this" Cubs fan has long subsided and it's a good chance your club actively makes you feel the same. The examples of personal futility in this game are boundless. But we're only scratching the surface.
You think it's hard watching the Pirates lose 98 games a year? Try being the Pirates utility infielder hitting .210 in his only 40-something career games. Or the backup catcher competing for fan recognition no different than a middle-of-the-pack beer vendor at PNC. Or the season ticket sales guy gettin screamed off the phone because his boss Bob Nutting is a scum sucking lowdown cheapskate.
The point I'm trying to make before tonight's massive game is that most of baseball kinda sucks. That's not overly controversial.
Most of it's standing around, waiting for something else to happen. There's a whole bunch of stuff I love about it personally. But objectively speaking, so many in and outside the game are utterly disenfranchised.
Upon reflection, one thing that jumps out to me is how much Casual Baseball Fans LOVED the brief history of one-and-done Wild Card games. People who didn't register a single full 9-inning game all season would get hyped for two 88-win teams playing for their postseason lives. The same people who would easily and completely ignore all four Division Series, the two League Championship Series and then the first 6 games of a World Series.
Those are the kind of casual sports fans that come to mind when I think about tonight's one game championship. You only give a fuck when the stakes are this high.
To me - across all sports, I'm of the mindset that our own individual attachment is ultimately dictated by the Moments we personally experience.
Football gives you the two minute drill. The field goal as time expires (YEAH I REMEMBER CODY). The clock's turned 0 as the ball gets snapped and you need to score/defend a touchdown. Those are great fuckin moments. Late onside recoveries and strip-sacks on 3rd and long. I'll keep giving examples if you're slow but you're not. You're with me on this.
Basketball is self explanatory especially this time of year. Same shit with the Stanley Cup Playoffs and overtime.
Baseball's unique in that all of our moments are individually isolated with limited interference. There's no clock or timeout strategy coming from the bench. You can't play keep away or back into a win. And while lineup construction has become nearly-automated, all in-game personnel adjustments are formal and final and SLATHERED in pageantry.
And here comes Tito with his first bullpen move of the night…
Cue the hand-picked walk-out music for both pitcher and then batter. We're gonna stop the game and run this dude's bio on the jumbotron while he warms up. "Has surrendered 9 of last 10 inherited runners. Plays the violin. Loves to cook."
Everyone gets such a spotlight with all the custom bells and whistles that come with the sport. And it all adds up so when that Moment finally arrives… bottom 8, chasing a run, bases loaded and 1 out… whatever that Moment is… we're so fuckin locked into the individuals.
We're so locked in that we'll yell the umpires first name out of pure instinct
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT JIMMY
And then we get however much time to collect ourselves for the potential arrival of another Moment. Each pitch carries it, few deliver. But they're gonna come as they do in every single game, one after the other, until the final out is recorded or the winning run scored.
The difference tonight is that most of us give a fuck about each pitch, and with it, the moments they subsequently deliver.
It's gonna be awesome, and we may not get this taste again for months.
Sure the Braves and Mets can say what they want. Cubs and Cards, Yankees and everyone else. But I'm talking about the casual sports fan tuning in and giving a fuck for 9-innings with the rest of us.
Baseball doesn't get a lot of these nights and that's for a lot of reasons I don't care to address at the moment. We can complain about that shit later.
For now I just wanted to share a word with you guys that this is one of those nights. This is one of those games. Most of us are going to watch and care and I just want you guys to know that I find it to be very special.
God Bless and Go USA
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Watch along with me and Wild Thing Castellani and a couple of the other baseball guys here:
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And of course, rock out for USA here:
MERCH