I’m a baseball fan in general, and a fan of the Minnesota Twins in particular. It was not always thus. I grew up with generic notions of local sport team fandom as most children in a city with (usually) four major sports teams probably do, with the most fondness for the Twins. This was likely due to being 5 and 9 years old when they won their two World Series’. Baseball is the sort of game that’s easy enough for a young child to understand on the surface, and I have very fond memories watching those ’87 and ’91 teams make their championship run.

I played exactly one year of little league, but as I was more of what you would call an indoor child, I kind of lost interest during the strike. During my teenage years I lost most interest in sports, instead spending my free time learning nerdly things on dialup internet.

During the successful-ish seasons of the 2000s I’d watch the (short) playoff runs, but it really wasn’t until maybe 5 years ago that I really got back into it, just in time for things to go south for the team. But something I’ve learned is that baseball is like coffee – bad coffee is still coffee and therefore has value, as is the case with baseball. Any given night your team could win no matter the opponent, and even if they don’t, there could be an epic outfield grab, improbable success running the bases, or if you’re extremely lucky someone gets TOOTBLANed.

Baseball isn’t a game for everyone, but what I enjoy most about it is the routine. There’s a game almost every day for half the year. It becomes part of your daily routine – a bright spot, something to look forward to.

Anyway, despite making very few substantial moves in the offseason after a 103 loss season, the team is off to a nice start, beating the Royals handily in the first two games. Two games in a 162 game season is just about meaningless, but it’s a nice change from last year’s nine straight losses to open the season. Regression to the mean is inevitable, but for now I will enjoy the moment.