In the early hours of the morning as the sun crept over the horizon, breaking the silence of the night, I lay in bed watching the rays of sun creep into the room. The slivers of light gently poked through the curtains and slowly made their way across the room.
I had been awake for most of the night unable to sleep. Strangely, I wasn’t tired even despite the lack of sleep. As I lay there watching the sunrise, I couldn’t help but think about the events that would unfold this day, October 6th.
It would be a day I had been looking forward to since mid-February. Now that it has arrived, I couldn’t help but sigh as I thought about why this date suddenly didn’t have the meaning it once had.
Today marks the opening of the Major League Baseball post season. For eight cities and their fans, it marks a new beginning. All of the hard work and success that was garnered in the 162-game regular season has been put aside.
Win-loss records have been zeroed out and each team starts anew. In the time since the final regular-season game on Sunday, fans have been busy preparing for play-off baseball. Jerseys and hats have been laid out, along with rally towels, luck foam fingers, and any other item that a fan might think will bring luck to a team.
But for fans of the 22 teams that did not make the post season, today is a reminder of unfulfilled dreams. Not too long ago, pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training, and we had grandiose plans of players living up to their potential, carrying their teams to the top of the standings.
With each instance of the bullpen failing to maintain the lead, and every swinging strikeout, the hopes of being part of the MLB post season drifted further away. By the first of June, the Diamondbacks had already been written off.
The trade deadline of July did not see the team bring in that one impact player that would push them into contention. Instead, we sat and watched as the Arizona Diamondbacks waved the white flag and dismantled the roster, one player at a time.
We were told this was the best way to return to contention. We traded fan favorites for young prospects, whom no one knew and whom may not see a Diamondbacks uniform for another three or four years.
For the second season in a row we watched as the team fired managers and coaches, replacing them with others who said all the right things to give us hope that we had seen the worst of things, and that from now on, they would get better.
The players told us what we wanted to hear—that it wasn’t the coaches fault, and that they looked forward to the new manager. They hoped this would be the change that would turn losing into winning.
At first, the fans were hopeful. But the team soon returned to the uneven play that got them into a losing position in the first place. The losing continued. When September rolled around, the rosters expanded.
Rather than bringing in players who could give the veterans a breather to sustain a final drive to a spot in the playoffs, the team brought in youngsters to evaluate their talent and decide how they would fit in next season.
Each game became a tryout as players tried to show coaches and management that they deserved to be on the roster next season. Other players took this opportunity to try and increase their statistics and ultimately their value on the free agent market.
Now, the season is over. Players have packed up their belongings and are making their way back to their winter homes to be reunited with the family and friends they had not seen since January.
Fans, like myself, are left lying in bed staring at the ceiling wondering what the fans in Tampa Bay, New York, Minneapolis, Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and San Francisco are doing to prepare to watch their teams battle for a berth in the World Series.
I exhaled a deep breath and pulled the covers back over my head hoping to fall asleep and dream of a time when the Diamondbacks would be hosting a playoff game at Chase Field.
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