Opening Day

 In northeast Indiana it's 31 degrees right now, and there was frost on the lawn when I let the dog out this morning.

This means nothing because the forsythia is blooming.

It means nothing because the grass is green again, and here and there it looks as if it could use a haircut.

It means nothing because, in Baltimore and Chicago and Los Angeles and ten other places, the umpire will shout "Play ball!" today. A pitcher will come set. A batter will step into the box and scrunch his feet around until he feels comfortable.

It may not feel like spring in a lot of places yet, But spring is here because baseball is here again -- and today is either opening day or Opening Day, depending on how you feel about it.

How a lot of America feels about it these days is "meh," and that's unfortunate. It's also proof of the immutable law of the universe that dictates change is the one constant. Baseball, cleaved to its history as it is, failed to change for far too long, and now it's trying desperately to play catchup.

Maybe it will catch up, in time. But right now it's losing the next generation of fans, and its demographic skews older every year. When a significant chunk of your fan base is on Social Security and Medicare, that's a problem.

But enough gloom and doom. Enough, too, about Shohei Ohtani, who continues to claim he was ripped off by his interpreter and is not-not-not covertly betting huge sums even as his sport cozies up to the gambling industry. 

(Latest sign of the apocalypse: On ESPN's MLB website this morning there is a video clip of baseball writer Jeff Passan talking about how the Ohtani mess could haunt the Dodgers all season. Right below it is an item slugged "MLB Betting" offering betting tips for the baseball season. Oh, irony!)

Later for that, however. Today is about balls and strikes and Omigod the Royals/A's/Reds are gonna suck again.

And my Pittsburgh Pirates?

The Cruds open in Miami tomorrow night, if you care ("We don't," you're saying). As far as I know, they did as little as they could get away with in the offseason. Some people think there's reason to believe they'll be better this season, maybe even third-or-fourth-in-the-division better, but I'll reserve judgment.

Instead I'll go shopping for a few nice throw pillows to spread around the NL Central cellar. If my Cruds are going to return to their ancestral home, after all, there's no reason they shouldn't be comfortable.

Play ball!