Skip to main content

Opening Day Magic 2026 . . .

It’s back. Baseball—yes, baseball! If you’re someone who finds themselves inexplicably drawn to this peculiar ritual, let’s be honest with each other: it’s a bit odd, right? I mean, 162 games. That’s a lot of hot dogs, a lot of standing around, and a lot of grown men in oddly tailored trousers spitting with remarkable precision.

And yet, here we are, poised on the precipice of another season. Thursday, March 26, 2026, to be precise—Opening Day.

It’s a curious thing, this Opening Day. You walk into a stadium, or turn on the TV, and suddenly, everyone is infected with a highly contagious strain of . . . Optimism. It’s a spectacular form of collective amnesia. All of last year’s fumbles, the endless losing streaks, the existential dread of watching your bullpen implode in the eighth inning—poof. Gone. It’s entirely replaced by a wide-eyed, childlike belief that this year, finally, the baseball gods will smile upon us.

The Cycle of Hope and Despair

As a Cubs fan, I know this cycle intimately; it’s practically my resting heart rate. Of course, we’ve seen the mountaintop. Back in 2016, we experienced a moment so improbable it still feels like a beautiful, tension-induced fever dream. But let’s be real—that was a decade ago. Mostly, being a Cubs fan is a long, winding road paved with what we politely call “character-building” experiences.

Still, on Thursday morning, we start with the exact same record as the reigning World Series champions. Zero and zero. Isn’t that something? A grand, democratic reset before the inevitable reality check.

A Pre-Season “Pilgrimage”

Just this week, I embarked on my annual pre-season pilgrimage. Only, instead of braving the sprawling concrete and questionable parking logistics of Angel Stadium (The Big A) in Anaheim, my journey consisted of a rigorous trek to the living room. I fired up MLB.TV to catch an exhibition game between the Dodgers and the Angels from the safety of my La-Z-Boy.

And astonishingly, it was absolutely delightful. The air might not have been thick with the aroma of overpriced stadium garlic fries, but the almost primal crack of a bat meeting a ball still sounded perfect through the TV speakers. I was actually enjoying myself, completely stress-free, with no traffic jams on the 5 freeway. Even though, let’s be clear, it was a practice game—a comfortably televised rehearsal for the actual agony to come.

Opening Day, you see, is more than just a game. It’s a pilgrimage. A return to the sacred grounds where grown men chase a leather sphere with the fervor of medieval knights storming the castle. Every single team starts with the same dream of playing in October. We have 162 opportunities for . . . well, who knows? Miracles? Meltdowns? Probably a healthy dose of both.

Where Will You Be Watching?

So, fellow baseball fans of Southern California, with our sprawling freeways and our stubborn love of the game, where will you be watching the 2026 season unfold?

  • Will you brave the traffic for Dodger Stadium, that expansive, welcoming bowl nestled into the Chavez Ravine?

  • Are you heading down to Petco Park to catch the Padres?

  • Or maybe you’ll be at the crossroads of the 57 and the 5 at Angel Stadium?

If you’re like me, you will probably be comfortably settled in front of MLB.TV, happily squinting at a flat screen, trying to catch all the intricate details of a Cubs’ mid-game collapse from the safety of the living room.

Everyone has their team. What excites you this year? What magical moments are you looking forward to? Next time you’re at a Southern California game, look for a Cubs fan cheering from afar. That might be me.
“Go, Cubs, Go, Cubs, Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today.”

I’m Patrick Ball. Stay curious, brace yourselves for the 162-game grind, and enjoy the season! See you in the next episode.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

Back to School (Without the Triple Lindy)

I hadn’t set foot inside a public library in over thirty years. Last Saturday, when I walked through the sliding doors of the modern County of San Diego branch on Eucalyptus Avenue in Vista, my eyes instinctively scanned the floor for the familiar, comforting sight of varnished oak cabinets and brass pull-handles. Nothing . No card catalog. No little wooden drawers. No rows of index cards typed by someone who presumably had beautiful penmanship and a pension. I walked up to the front desk, looked the librarian dead in the eye, and asked with complete earnestness: "Where’s the card catalog?" She didn’t laugh, though she had every right to. Instead, she offered a warm, dry smile: "We magically had the computer digest it." And just like that, I was enrolled. Not the Rodney Dangerfield kind of back-to-school. No diving board, no loud blazer, no campus party, and thankfully, no need to convince anyone I belonged there. Just an overdue reminder that while I was busy with ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . .   This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...
4 comments
Read more

Doc Welch - The Country Doctor

In this episode, Doc Welch . . . Many authors have characterized life in rural Illinois over the years. Among the more notables are Edgar Lee Masters, who wrote Spoon River Anthology, Carl Sandburg for his poetry and biography of Abraham Lincoln, and little known to me until recently, my first doctor, whom everyone in town always called Doc Welch - James K. Welch, M.D.  (Feb. 7, 1915, to May 5, 1998) While exploring the microfilm of the Cuba Journal (published from 1884 to 1992), I consistently kept running across articles entitled The Country Doctor. This intrigued me. Doc Welch was a third-generation practicing Country Doctor in Cuba for over 40 years. His father, James William Welch, M.D., practiced medicine in Cuba for more than five decades. His grandfather, James Knox Welch, M.D., settled in Cuba after the Civil War. Cuba, Illinois, is a small, rural farming community in west-central Illinois, where I grew up. Like many small towns, it boasts a central square with a ban...
4 comments
Read more

Vintage Vinyl

In this episode - Vintage Vinyl . . . Turntables are making a big comeback; why? Listening to music should be a multi-sensory experience. Harmony, rhythm, and the deep expression of emotion. Like a warm, gentle rain in the springtime cascading around you the room is filled with a resonant, rich, melodic sound. My emotions welled up, and tears come to my eyes. Ok, I get it, we need to step back to get some perspective here. Recently a visit to Lou's Records in Encinitas, California, inspired me to dig out my Vintage vinyl LP record collection. I selected the Carpenters Singles 1969- 1973 . This musical duo reigned from 1969-to 1982 with the rich, full melodic voice of Karen Carpenter. They were one of the biggest-selling groups of the 1970s. "No fewer than ten of their singles went on to become million-sellers, and by 2005 combined worldwide sales of albums and singles well exceeded 100 million units." The tactile sensory experience of music begins with the album cover it...
4 comments
Read more