As you already know, I often compare working as a staff writer to playing on an NBA team—sometimes you score 50, sometimes you score 15, sometimes you're out for two weeks on the IR list; sometimes you make it to the Finals three years in a row and still get traded or released. But MLB, with its much longer seasons and the day-to-day grind you have described so articulately here, is a much more accurate parallel.
Loved this piece, go M's, please at least make the playoffs so I can buy a 2026 Postseason field cap.
Absolutely. I think both sports work. I didn’t realize just how long 162 games felt until I started watching regularly. It’s insane! But that grind makes the playoffs and championships feel so much sweeter (allegedly, hopefully we get there).
Not ruling us out yet! They can still turn this around and you can get your cap hahah.
Maybe this is why baseball is a great sport. Even if our team is losing, there is something in this sport that make hoping the next bat's round could be a turning-point in the game. Because I've played basketball during all my childhood (I was a Charles Barkley's fan, but maybe just because for not being an obvious Michael Jordan's one), I'm still interested by others American sports (football, baseball). And I'm saying it even the day after Bastille Day and the defeat of French soccer team at the Soccer World Cup. I haven't seen any soccer game since I've been into street fights in 2024 in Paris against racists after several games of the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), while I was just walking quietly at night in my neighborhood. And the French far-right is a real danger for the next presidential election in France next year. Despite the international reputation of France and Paris, I really know how is going for the worst in France right now. Just all the damages in Paris the night of the victory of PSG at the 2026 Champions League? And French far-right's leaders every day on French TV channels? So I really don't give a damn of the defeat of France in the Soccer World Cup. Apparently, there was again a lot of racist comments during the Soccer World Cup, because many players in the French soccer team are Blacks and Arabs. Anyway, all of this to say that there is a good feeling to support a sport team even during bad times. Kind of ironically, during all my second period of time in Paris, aside reading books and listening to vinyl records in my apartment (and I had also a lot of problems with bad neighbors just because of that - even by listening to ambient music), in my leisure time I was watching softball's games (I've discovered all the energy of girls at sports!), and Good Mythical Morning. And just for that, despite Donald Trump and his bad influence on all ultra-conservative people around the world, I'm still thankful to the US and to good American people.
Wow, thanks for sharing all this, Tarik. It’s funny how people say to “leave politics out of sports” when, historically, the two are so intricately intertwined. And sports can also give us hope during some of society’s worst moments. They have the chance to bring out both the best and the worst in us. But those great moments are just so transcendent.
I thought about it after my long comment. It's the original quality of sports to bring diverse people together. This still is a part of the solution. I hope we can preserve this transcendantal dimension!
Nice piece, Dusty! I hope the Mariners will eventually come through for you! My Rangers took 52 years to win a championship, so I understand the long-term view you have to have to hang in there.
This really captures the experience perfectly.
Thanks so much, Em! The experience has been… a lot! But I’m all in now. Go Ms.
goms!!!!
As you already know, I often compare working as a staff writer to playing on an NBA team—sometimes you score 50, sometimes you score 15, sometimes you're out for two weeks on the IR list; sometimes you make it to the Finals three years in a row and still get traded or released. But MLB, with its much longer seasons and the day-to-day grind you have described so articulately here, is a much more accurate parallel.
Loved this piece, go M's, please at least make the playoffs so I can buy a 2026 Postseason field cap.
Absolutely. I think both sports work. I didn’t realize just how long 162 games felt until I started watching regularly. It’s insane! But that grind makes the playoffs and championships feel so much sweeter (allegedly, hopefully we get there).
Not ruling us out yet! They can still turn this around and you can get your cap hahah.
Maybe this is why baseball is a great sport. Even if our team is losing, there is something in this sport that make hoping the next bat's round could be a turning-point in the game. Because I've played basketball during all my childhood (I was a Charles Barkley's fan, but maybe just because for not being an obvious Michael Jordan's one), I'm still interested by others American sports (football, baseball). And I'm saying it even the day after Bastille Day and the defeat of French soccer team at the Soccer World Cup. I haven't seen any soccer game since I've been into street fights in 2024 in Paris against racists after several games of the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), while I was just walking quietly at night in my neighborhood. And the French far-right is a real danger for the next presidential election in France next year. Despite the international reputation of France and Paris, I really know how is going for the worst in France right now. Just all the damages in Paris the night of the victory of PSG at the 2026 Champions League? And French far-right's leaders every day on French TV channels? So I really don't give a damn of the defeat of France in the Soccer World Cup. Apparently, there was again a lot of racist comments during the Soccer World Cup, because many players in the French soccer team are Blacks and Arabs. Anyway, all of this to say that there is a good feeling to support a sport team even during bad times. Kind of ironically, during all my second period of time in Paris, aside reading books and listening to vinyl records in my apartment (and I had also a lot of problems with bad neighbors just because of that - even by listening to ambient music), in my leisure time I was watching softball's games (I've discovered all the energy of girls at sports!), and Good Mythical Morning. And just for that, despite Donald Trump and his bad influence on all ultra-conservative people around the world, I'm still thankful to the US and to good American people.
Wow, thanks for sharing all this, Tarik. It’s funny how people say to “leave politics out of sports” when, historically, the two are so intricately intertwined. And sports can also give us hope during some of society’s worst moments. They have the chance to bring out both the best and the worst in us. But those great moments are just so transcendent.
I thought about it after my long comment. It's the original quality of sports to bring diverse people together. This still is a part of the solution. I hope we can preserve this transcendantal dimension!
Nice piece, Dusty! I hope the Mariners will eventually come through for you! My Rangers took 52 years to win a championship, so I understand the long-term view you have to have to hang in there.