The last series of the MLB season didn't have much drama, which is what it's supposed to be The last three games of the season passed by in a vacuum, just like the season ends on Mondays and Thursdays. Baseball could have grabbed everyone's attention as it wouldn't compete with college football and the NFL for the season's climax. The last day, with teams just playing out the string or resting for the upcoming playoffs, almost passed as if not trying to wake anyone up.
Baseball has the power to remind you of the way it can ring an emotional tuning fork, unlike any other sport. Everyone gets an at-bat, and everyone gets a chance to sink or swim. The pace of the game may be the reason for it. I can never let go because it might be something I can't quite get around to.
Stephen Vogt is not well known. He was a two-time All-Star but he was not the best player on a good team. The team was too busy having too much fun to realize the team was supposed to be too broke to compete.
It is easy to get attached to a catcher because the job is so unpleasant. I don't like doing squats in an air conditioned gym. It's a war crime to spend six months in a squat in the heat of the Bay while wearing gear. It is always a reminder of dedication to the sport. He has an everyman build that makes him an everyman quality.
A player below the team's stars is the fan's favorite. He's called a glue guy in hockey. He is a part of the basketball team. Maybe we flock to them because they remind us of how hard it is. We wonder how it could look like that when the stars are making it look easy. The guy we know had to grind it out every day, is only a bad month or so from losing his job, and looks like he may sweat while he eats.
Before he got his job with the A's, Vogt was in the minor leagues for seven seasons. He was 29 at the time. He didn't have an artist's interpretation of a swing, leaning more into the "looking like he's taking out the drywall while demoing a house" The two All-Star seasons were scratched after one contender window had closed for the A's. Things aren't great when Stephen Vogt is your All-Star representative
In the past few years, Vogt has played for four different teams and missed all of last year with a shoulder injury He came back to Oakland for his last season.
If his kids weren't cute enough, this was his last at-bat in the majors.
A's fans don't have much and their owner is hellbent on taking it. If the A's stay in Oakland, it will be for quite some time. They still had a link to when things were better. There wasn't a happier fan base on Earth. There wasn't a happy person on the planet. What did it mean to him, his teammates, and his fans?
Baseball can't convince you that there is a force at work that pulls strings on everyone. It is so enriching when it goes the right way.
It could be that we all want to homering in our lastAB. We have to watch someone do it, someone who wasn't supposed to be there at all.
How can you not fall in love with a sport?
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