Yes, it’s been a tougher winter than many in recent years. In Chicago as this is being written, it’s 12 degrees fahrenheit with a projected high of 16. In Los Angeles, it’s substantially warmer, but as we know it was far warmer than that last month, and if one is so inclined one can drive through entire neighborhoods where remnants of properties lost in historic fires are still left unattended.
So if ever there were two cities in need of something even close to a diversion, these would be top-tier candidates. Which makes the fact that their respective National League teams, the Cubs and Dodgers, will be the first to compete in actual competitive games of professional baseball in calendar year 2025 especially heartwarming?
Why so early, you ask? They’ll be doing it for realsies exactly one month from yesterday when they kick off the regular season in Tokyo, all the more apropos considering both teams now have several Japanese superstars. Indeed, yesterday the Cubs announced that their breakout import from last year, Shoto Imanaga, will indeed pitch that opener, very likely against the defending world champs’ brittle but brilliant Yoshinobu Yamamato. And for the Cubs, it’s a welcome return to the site where they first began these pre-Opening Day global openers a quarter-century ago when, when the immortal Tuffy Rhodes clubbed three homers in a win against the Mets. For Dodger fans, take heart in the fact that despite that one-off effort the Mets eventually won the pennant.
Nothing even close to that pageantry and significance will be at stake at Glendale’ Camelback Ranch tomorrow afternoon, but it won’t be completely devoid of a storyline. The Cubs will trot out free agent gambit Cody Poteet, who actually pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings against the Dodgers as a member of the Yankees, one of five starts he made in an injury-riddled season. But when he was healthy he was actually quite good, winning all three of his decisions–against playoff teams and eventual Yankee victims Cleveland and Kansas City, not to mention an impressive road outing in San Francisco with an ERA of 2.22. And was all they were able to get in exchange for the financial sacrifice of Cody Bellinger. The Dodgers’ starter is TBA, which was often the case last season as they burned through starters the way many of their fans burn through blunts.
And the reality check here is that Poteet will likely throw at most two innings, a majority of the other starters will be reserves and the game will likely devolve into an unscorable and confusing rollout of non-roster players that only the most rabid organizational fans might recognize. The first games of spring training are like that, which means whatever hype might be present at the outset will be long gone as the afternoon wears on. I have little doubt the likes of Boog Sciambi and Rick Monday will quickly begin omitting details as they announce and waxing nostalgic about past the past and already looking forward to the regular season.
But if you’ve just been through as challenging an off-season as so many in Chicago, Los Angeles or for that matter almost anywhere in this country you may be (we did have a presidential election to boot) the fact that we’ll finally have the escape hatch of live baseball, and the promise of much nicer days to follow, available to us for the next seven months and change is perhaps why something as otherwise insignificant as a spring training opener is important enough for someone like me to muse about.
I may not care who gets the win tomorrow or even be around to watch the final innings. But I can guarantee I’ll be eagerly counting down the minutes until 12:05 PM PST tomorrow on this one last day without baseball.
Courage…