Early this morning, in a month when baseball is still being played fairly close to this latitude, there was frost that required scraping from my windshield. That’s the first sign that winter’s creepin’ in and I’m tired of this town again.
I’m already tired of winter and it’s October.
It was enough to make me calculate, for the fourth consecutive offseason, the coming of the Baseball Equinox, that precise moment when we are as close to the last pitch of the last season as we are to the first pitch of the next season. Everything from that point forward means there is hope for us yet, that next year is almost here, that you can make out, ever so fuzzily, baseball over the horizon. That’s when you can start counting down in earnest to pitchers and catchers. You can start doing it now if you must, but my ballological clock is still set to 2008 time. I remain stuck on how we sprung back to second and I’m not nearly ready to consider how we might fall ahead to first.
Anyway, on to the big number…
The 2008 season ended for Met intents and purposes on September 28 at 5:05 PM. The 2009 season will begin at approximately 2:15 PM on April 6. That places our Baseball Equinox at 3:40 AM, January 2. That’s a Friday, if you’re scoring at home (or even if you’re by yourself).
Stay warm. Keep the faith. Go Rays.
I got it marked on the Google Calendar.
Thanks for doing the math!
Of note: Fernando Tatis has won the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award.
I'll have to observe the Equinox aboard ship — Sarah & I are going on a cruise over New Years.
From now until Thanksgiving, then from Super Bowl to Pitchers & Catchers are my most forlorn times of the year, so thanks for allowing that little crack of light.
Actually, based on this information I'll start celebrating on January 3, which will mean we are CLOSER to the first pitch of the new season than we are to the last pitch of the old. Whee! -Lisa
Seeing as there is no baseball worth occupying my time, I decided to check the math myself, and came up with a different number. This box score says the time of the game was 3:04 with a 49-minute rain delay, putting the final pitch at 5:03 PM, making the equinox one minute earlier – 3:39 AM on January 2nd.
Does anyone else get a kick out of the way the 69' Mets are the standard that all worst-to-first clubs are measured? I heard people comparing the Giants run last year as a more remarkable thing than the 69' team..
Remember 09' is a 40 year celebration and I hope its handled well..
Rich
I measure from the end of the season to pitchers and catchers reporting, which makes the wait seem a lot less interminable–and puts the equinox somewhere around mid-December–less than two months away!
Oh yeah…That might happen… (