There Is No Tomorrow

OK, maybe that’s a little melodramatic. There is a tomorrow. I will get up far earlier than I want, take my kids to school, and schlep off to work, to tackle that thing I’ve  been dreading for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow will very much happen, whether we want it to or not.

But in a certain sense, when it comes to my Orioles fandom, there is no tomorrow. Today is the last day that I will be able to hear the crack of the bat, the smack of the mitt. It’s the last day for me to double-guess the manager’s bullpen strategy or lineup construction. Starting tomorrow, I look out the window and wait for Spring. It’s simply the worst.

The Orioles are out of it, and in all the important ways, this game is meaningless. But for today, the season all comes down to this. The Orioles have the chance today to beat the New York Yankees. That, in itself, is enough for me to be invested. They also have the chance to avoid finishing under .500, which would be their fourth consecutive season. 81-81 is not really that different from 80-82, but let’s face it – it will eat at me if they don’t finish at .500.

This is my last chance to enjoy real baseball, with real (if not totally ginned up) stakes. After today, it’s off to an uncertain – and probably disappointing – offseason. The talk will be front office tension, cheap ownership, developmental incompetence, poor drafting. I can’t remember the last offseason that was truly satisfying… maybe 2004?

In the meantime, let me have today. It will probably be the last time I will be able to cheer for Crush without heartache. It will be my last opportunity for some six months to see all the special things that Manny Machado can do on a baseball field. In short, when 3:05 hits, there is no tomorrow. It is all about the next three hours, when this thing called Orioles Baseball takes its final bow for the season.

Let’s Go O’s!