We approach tonight’s Opening Day of the 2020 Major League Baseball season with trepidation. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, of course, but here are a few things to remember about this sport and its recent history:

  • Cheaters prosper: Remember the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox cheating scandals? We do. But just like the PED era when teams were enabled by the commissioner and the fans to tolerate cheating, no one really seems to care anymore. Should you? Probably, but it’s an individual choice, of course.
  • Economic disparity is celebrated: We did a lot of this discussion last season, but no team can win the World Series unless it outspends most of its competition. That’s just the sad state of a sport without a salary cap. The Los Angeles Dodgers just proved this again in the last few days.
  • Health and safety are not paramount: The COVID-19 pandemic is real, and all you have to do is process facts, history, and science to understand this. We really can’t imagine a scenario where numerous players and team staff do not get sick, and with the long-term damage of this virus to even those who are asymptomatic, the fallout from this will last decades. Why rush the sport back? Oh yeah, follow the money … we forgot. But remember this moment in sports history.

So, that’s our take. We won’t be writing much on the sport (or so we think right now, but alas, that may change if we’re inspired), and we can’t attend games this year, really, whether in the press box or in the stands. We have seen a game in person every season since 1974, and that comes to a sad end this year.

It’s still America’s game, but America is tainted a bit right now by that proclamation.