Baseball is back. Opening Day is in the books and my, make that our, Beloved Dodgers are back in first place after the first game of the 2025 season. “Our,” is my token gratuity to inclusiveness, a nod to the spirit of the age. But that’s as political as I hope to get in tracking this championship season.

It was so refreshing to return to rooting for a run to be scored on Tuesday rather than political points to be scored. And how I’ve looked forward during the off season to charting Dodger batting averages, rather than notching figurative wins in my political belt.

As aficionados know, Our Beloved Dodgers racked up 7 hits to score 4 runs in defeating the woeful Chicago Cubs 4-1. So, last year’s world champions start this season undefeated.

One down. One hundred sixty-one to go. And then the real season begins with playoffs and, God willing, another World Series. Grab your popcorn and settle in. Has any political season ever come close to such promise?

Because they played Tuesday in Tokyo, I had to roll out of bed in Texas at 5 a.m. to see the televised game. I can’t imagine rising that time of day to watch a politician. Maybe Calvin Coolidge. Or Thomas Jefferson.

As George Carlin reminded decades ago, baseball is all about going home. And as the small plaque in our family room, a present from a friend and baseball fanatic, puts it: “In baseball as in life, all the important things happen at home.” What could be more welcome than going home?

Have you ever noticed how many baseball players names end in “ie” or “y”? Mookie, Freddy, Mickey, Willie. Can you name a single politician whose moniker is so softened?

But the grand game is forever bittersweet, reminding us of what’s possible every spring, but crushing the hopes and dreams of all but one team’s fans every season. As former baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti so lyrically explained, “It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.”

Yet, it’s always worth it, isn’t it? Except for maybe Cubs fans.

Forgive me for my enthusiasm. It is still early in the season and even Cubs fans have hope. But all y’all are invited to escape the dreary gloom of a long, hot summer of politics and slip in a game or two on the tube or in the flesh at the old ball yard.

Take us out to the ballpark that we might sing, where we can get peanuts and Cracker Jacks and root for the home team. Dare I say it? Play ball!

Mark Landsbaum is a Christian retired journalist, former investigative reporter, editorial writer, columnist. He also is a husband, father, grandfather, and Dodgers fan. He can be reached at mark.landsbaum@gmail.com.

Image: Pixabay