This is Our Year…..

“This is our year”… you can almost hear those four words resonating all across the country as the snow and cold slowly dissipate and the sounds of baseball return. Spring Training is always a welcome sign to us in the Midwest, as it means that we only have another 10 weeks of winter left. Last season only gives further reason to think “this can be our year”, as the hapless (for many years) Royals made an epic run only falling one game short of the pennant. This is our year…. don’t you just like the ring to that? As Spring progresses and Opening Day appears, we all can initially hold on to that sentiment. Even as  admitted Twins fan; mired in 90 loss seasons, the hope can make the early season fun.

As a skeptic (or realist in the matter of the Twins), it is amazing how quick the “This is our year” can turn into the “What ifs”…. What if our pitching staff gave us more than 5 innings…. What if we could actually score some runs… What if player “x” wasn’t in a slump.. What if anyone could actually hit the slider.. The “what if” section of the year is what drives a fan crazy! It is like the train wreck car crash that you just cannot keep your eyes off of. The more and more the season slips, the harder it is to turn away. Your team is holding on by a thread and are you a buyer or seller at the deadline? Let’s blow the whole thing up and start over or are you one bat or arm away from the Wild Card? And as you slowly fade out of contention, the “What ifs” turn into ‘There’s always next year”.

September call ups are on the horizon where you get the chance to see all of that young talent in the farm system. “What took so long to get to see those young kids play”…. “What if we would have brought them up sooner?” The second guessing (the “What Ifs” never truly go away) of the lineup and roster construction. You become the spoiler and play just well enough to keep your arch rival out of the playoffs. What a great finish, the young guys stepped it up, we are going to be great next year. Next year will be “our year”……