Cleveland Indians Begin 2010: Welcome Back!

Finally, it’s here! Opening Day!

In a tradition that is mostly a nod to my late mother who used to write me an excuse to come home from school after lunch in order to see the Indians’ first game of the year, I take this day off of work whenever I can.

I do the whole ballpark thing, making coney dogs and french fries, donning my Indians jersey with the 1997 World Series patch, and park myself in front of the TV skipping through channels watching multiple games.

I’ll start by stating the obvious: This is not going to be a good year for the Tribe in terms of winning.

Predicting their record isn’t like predicting the record of an NFL team where you go through each game and take an educated guess at the outcome. With baseball’s 162 games, that is impossible.

So I start with a .500 record, 81-81, and go from there. If the Tribe loses 90 games, that makes them 9 games under .500. I’m going with 69-93. Ouch.

So what does that do to this sacred day for me? Nothing. Not because of the “Hope springs eternal” sentiment that fans have on Day One.

No, the Tribe has no pitching and I don’t care how much they hit-and-run, steal bases, and find ways to manufacture runs, they’ll not be able to make up for the lack of pitching.

This day is always exciting for me because I love baseball. And I love the Indians. And having them back is like having an old friend who lives out of state come home.

Yes, we’re going to lose the War of 2010, but the battles will be there almost daily. So while I think they’ll lose 93 games, I also think they’ll win 69. That’s more wins that I get to celebrate than from any other sports team in a season.

The Indians will take the field today against division-rival (and the team I think that will win the Central) Chicago White Sox, and I’m looking forward to it. A win on Opening Day would be great, and I’ll be enthusiastically pulling for it.

While I’ve railed against ownership and the choices of the front office, the team is my team and the sport is my sport and when it starts I will have butterflies. I’ll be rubbing my hands together and smiling.

I’ll say a little prayer to my mother. And I’ll take a big bite of coney dog, dip some fries in ketchup, and talk to the TV like a crazy person.

Speaking of that, I have to go. The game starts in 20 minutes and I have onions to cut and hotdogs to cook.

GO TRIBE!