Is it really Spring now? The birds and the growing vegetation seem to think so, especially the rapidly growing grass in my yard that seemed only day or two ago to harbor nothing more than rainwater that was fighting evaporation with all of its might. The snow was still falling in some places when the 2026 major league baseball season started and memories of the World Baseball Classic were still fresh.

For more than 150 years now no season has ever precisely duplicated any previous one but many of us stubbornly think that it might happen. Can we have 1955 again please or perhaps 2014? Some, like Max Scherzer or Jurickson Profar, may fear that 2025 will repeat. Others, like Jordan Walker or Junior Caminero, like what they see so far in the new season.

The most interesting division so far has been the National League Central. Everybody has been great and everybody stinks. It’s been game to game, not even series to series. The Pirates? Seriously? Well, maybe. The Cubs seem like the steady, solid group: defense, plenty of sock, Alex Bregman, Craig Counsell. But you can’t ignore the Brewers, right? Right now the Cardinals are hot. How the hell did that happen?

It seemed at first that the usual contenders—Yankees, Dodgers, and maybe the braves—were going to run away and hide but now, well, take nothing for granted. Maybe even the Giants will get hot. But not the Twins. And, my goodness, the Tampa Bay Rays are sizzling!

Important injuries have already occurred. Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Tarik Skubal, Carlos Correa and others will miss significant time. Even before April Fools Day speculation about the infamous trading deadline was flowing like cheap beer. Cheap beer, by the way, must be enjoyed at home, certainly not at the ballpark. The new strategic kid on the block is the ABS scheme. It’s a fun new electronic game the folks at home can share and perhaps soon be able to bet on. You bet. Advertising for betting outfits would be considered scandalous if a higher percentage of people understood the problems it can cause. One verified study showed that one half of 16 year old American boys gambled in the past year and one third of 11 year old American boys have as well. Is it too easy? Should adults be filling silos with cash derived from this practice? Did respected Hall of Fame player Derek Jeter need the money he made plugging a betting outfit in that commercial spot shown during telecasts? Have we, as a nation, embraced corruption warmly? Don’t ask the White House.

On the 95th birthday of Willie Mays, the game is alive and healthy and enjoying very large popularity and the financial rewards that follow. Sunday night baseball has become a bit of a talk show, not on the field with players the way that ESPN had been doing but with more announcers and commenters than can be fitted into one booth. Sometimes the actual game seems secondary. I’m holding a cardboard sign that reads “Shut up and play ball”.

Despite all of this carping, it is indeed good to have baseball back into our lives. The best improvement is the growing resurgence of what is called “small ball”. Sacrifice bunts, smart base running, and “situational hitting” are welcome returns and a lot more fun than keeping track of miles per hour, launch angles and strikeouts per nine innings when nine innings are almost never pitched by one person in a game anymore. Anyway, there is a lot to this game. That’s why it’s fun.