Greetings from Stockton, Cali.
Not to long ago, I shared with you the thoughts on the upcoming trade deadline and how it affected all of us minor leaguers more than one might suspect. For a period of 31 days, we sat in the clubhouse every day not knowing what might happen to us the next day, or where we might be. Without disappointment, the trade deadline came upon us and is now gone. Everyone has had a chance to digest their take on the trades made and how it might shape the final run toward the postseason for each organization.
So, what is left to do now? Writers, owners, scouts and players, for such a long time, have so much anticipation of what might happen, then it happens and we sit here afterwards still. Much like our anticipation of Y2K, we prepared for the worst, and then nothing happened. The guys in the clubhouse were expecting some big names to be traded and to have new faces showing up. Some guys expected to get a chance to move up. There were even guys that were not sure if they would still have a job after the deadline. Then it all happened and none of our predictions here came to fruition — now we are left with the best thing of all, the game!
All of the business is mainly done for the year now, and players do not have to worry about being traded or jobs for a couple of weeks, and we can get down to some good old fashion baseball — the game that our parents raised us on, and the game we all long for. When the lines are chalked and the bases are put in, we all get comfortable and ready to play. I am for certain ready to play out the rest of this season and see what is going to happen. I feel fairly confident that most spectators enjoy the last months of the season because all of the playoff races start to take shape, and we get a glimpse of what is going to be.
No worries, the same goes for us here in the minors. Sure, we have a season that is shorter by about a month, but we all get excited and ready to make that final push. All of our playoff races heat up and the leagues turn to divisional play. It is not about playing all of the teams in the league now; it is about those head-to-head games with the teams that mean the most. If you are not ready, you should be. I am!