Spring training is mere weeks away now, with longer, warmer days and exciting New York Mets baseball soon to follow.
While we all await the final resolution of the Carlos Correa saga, we're rapidly approaching the start of spring training. I've always enjoyed the return of baseball, even in years when I knew the Mets would stink. Of course, that's hardly the case for 2023. Although there are indeed questions about a Mets roster full of new faces, including many older ballplayers, it will be a great team to watch — no matter who is manning third base. Although it will undoubtedly be more fun if the Mets and Correa can come to terms.
As someone who's lived in the northeast his whole life, I've learned to tolerate the winters, mainly because I enjoy the other three seasons here very much. I played a lot of pond hockey in my younger days, but other than that, I never really embraced winter activities. My most common winter activities, weather permitting, are the same as my warm-weather ones: walking and hiking with my dogs. Even before the official start of winter with the solstice, I'm already noting the checkpoints that signal the eventual end of winter.
The first occurred on December 9. It was the earliest winter sunset, almost 2 weeks before the solstice, thanks to the elliptical shape of the earth's orbit. Even as the days continue to grow shorter until the solstice, the evening sunset starts to get incrementally later. Then on December 20, we had the solstice. Yes, the sun is furthest away from us in the southern hemisphere, but now every day, it comes back a bit closer. As I write this piece, we've already seen the sun set 17 minutes later than on 12/9. Before the end of January, it will finally set after 5 pm. The days will continue to grow longer and longer as we approach spring.
As a lifelong baseball lover, the start of spring training is the event that has come to signify the true beginning of the end of winter for me. This March features a new World Baseball Classic from March 8-21. With all due respect to anyone who loves it, I mostly ignore the WBC, only checking on how any current Mets perform. But I owe the Classic thanks for moving spring training a bit earlier this year. I am still looking for an official report date for pitchers and catchers in Port St. Lucie, but it will be a couple of weeks before the first scheduled games: split squad tilts against the Astros and Marlins on February 25. That should be around Valentine's Day in just over five weeks. I can't wait.
Of course, I'll be bored with spring training games by the end of the slate, but then the games start for real on March 30 in Miami. The Mets won't have to travel far or deal with winter weather for those games against the Marlins. Then, the newly balanced schedule has them going north to Milwaukee, where a domed stadium awaits. The Mets come home to face the Marlins and Padres, then head west to face the A's, Dodgers, and Giants. A 10-game western swing in April will feel really weird, but it certainly beats another frosty trip to Colorado. This year, the Mets head out to Denver at the very end of May. Hopefully, winter will be over even in the Rockies by that point. Certainly, by late May, I will no longer be giving any thought to winter in these parts.
In the meantime, I will continue to deal with whatever winter can throw at me with a northeastern stoicism honed over more than six decades. The weather has given us a real break over the last couple of weeks, but I don't fool myself into thinking that winter won't be back. Either way, we're just over a month from the return of baseball.
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