How are you surviving without baseball in this mad world at the moment? It is tough. Before all of this Covid-19 madness, I didn’t know I needed that baseball fix in the morning in my life this much, just like I need coffee in the morning to transform from the walking dead into a human being. In the morning I need home runs, hits, strikeouts, curveballs, outfielders robbing batters of home runs, stolen bases, double plays, sliders, hit by pitch, bench clearing brawls, fly outs, errors, mound visits, 100-mph fastballs, bat flips and wOBA analysing nerds. Something to get the day going!
Now when there is no baseball in the world at the moment, I need to get that fix from somewhere else, and thank you dear Lord baby Jesus that there is MLB: The Show. I’ve played the game for few years now but never quite knew it would become such a big part of my life. I try to catch a few moments now and then just to lose my mind about not getting a home run. I’ve even started to play different modes, franchise and diamond dynasty. On Road to the Show mode I have started a career now on every position. And when you are not playing? You turn to YouTube and watch other people play online against each other. Almost like watching an actual game. Want to be a general manager of a baseball franchise? You should try Out of the Park Baseball 21(OOTP 21). Hours will fly by you. Yes, hours. Bit of a advice coming from a person who grew up playing Championship Manager; remember to eat and sleep.
Then there is all the games that are now uploaded to YouTube. There are over 43 000 regular season games uploaded to YouTube from 2011-2019. That should get you over the weekend! Seriously, it has been fun to get to watch some old games and see some young stars on their first at bats or first time on the mound in the majors. I try to catch a game per day. That will give the feeling that season is rolling on!
For those who don’t know – Every Major League Baseball game since 2009 is available in full on YouTube.
Search example: TOR AT DET – July 15, 2017
Just change teams & date. Regular season & playoffs all there.
— Jed (@TigersJUK) March 18, 2020
How about a movie night with your spouse to get thoughts out of the corona pandemic? Moneyball, The Battered Bastards of Baseball, Major League, The Sandlot. I watched Ken Burns documentary series Baseball. It blew my mind! Stories in that series will make you emotional and cry laughing.
Now that it is advised to stay indoors, we practice baseball in the living room with my daughter. We have one baseball and she bats with a toy giraffe. I am the pitcher and she is the batter. She is about career .343 hitter. Mainly just bunt singles. For a toddler that is quite good. She has a Dee Gordon type of speed so tagging her out has been a problem.
It is weird times we are living and without sports everything feels strange. This great article about missing more than just baseball by Richard Hampson really sums up the feelings of everyone who even remotely likes sports. We like stories that sports generates. As a community around the world we will get through this. And when the actual opening day comes? We riot! It will be awesome.
Tomi Korkeamaki is covering the Miami Marlins during 2020 as part of the growing team of writers at Bat Flips and Nerds. Follow him on Twitter @TKorkeamaki
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