As I wait for the NL MVP to be announced — likely the only real news that will be had today — I find myself struggling with something: when do we start calling 2010 “last season?” When do we start calling 2011 “this season.” More importantly, what do we call them now?
Let’s start easy: it’s probably safe to call 2010 “last season” now. The only possible issue with this will be when we talk about who just won the awards — I still think of Felix Hernandez as “this season’s Cy Young Award winner” — but that will end soon, and the award winners will be just as much a part of “last season” as Dallas Braden’s ridiculous references to the area code whence he came.
2011 is much harder. My quick broaching of the topic on Twitter has made it pretty clear that people do not yet feel comfortable calling 2011 “this season.” Indeed, the consensus is that we’re in a dead zone when we can only have a “last season” and a “next season” and nothing in between. This saddens me, because it just underscores how bereft of baseball we are. What’s more, it’s not 100% accurate inasmuch as teams are assembling rosters as we speak, laying the important groundwork for 2011. Something is happening that part of me feels must be considered as a component of the active season. Though the tree has shed its leaves and appears dead to the world, it still lives.
But my emotional needs aside, I’ll grant that 2011 is not yet “this season.” But when does it become “this season?”
- I will not be subject to the tyranny of the calendar. January 1st is a non-starter as far as I’m concerned, as it has no organic relationship to baseball, which has its own calendar that can be easily navigated without reference to the names of the months (“October” being the only possible exception).
- Someone in the Twitterverse suggested Opening Day. This is far too late for me. We are way, way too invested in actual on-the-field activity before then.
- Pitchers and catchers reporting, then? It may be the majority position. It still feels too late for me, though. And it’s not like we’re sticking with it: “truck day” has become an increasingly big thing, and if we’re marking the departure of equipment, it must be significant.
I could go earlier than that, though. Sometime between now and early February is when the rhetorical calendar has to flip. The sooner the better for me, as I dislike constructions such as “this upcoming season” or “the current offseason” or “that time, far off, when baseball begins anew and the long dreary winter has left us at last.” Which comes up all the time, don’t you know.
Here’s my take: I’m going to the Winter Meetings in a couple of weeks. When I’m down there, I’m going to perform a little pagan ceremony, the specifics of which will be between me, the beverage I am drinking and whoever happens to be within shouting distance. When it’s over, 2011 will be referred to as “this season” on this blog.
Well, at least by me. I’m guessing Gleeman, Pouliot, Short and Silva all feel differently about it.
