It's Over for the "Next One Up"

The baseball season is over for me. Since I was a child, I've been a St. Louis Cardinals fan. I listened to their games on the radio late at night. For more than 10 years, my husband and I have gone to Spring Training at Jupiter FL for one or two weeks. Now that we have satellite television, I hang on every pitch for the 162-game season.

"Spring Training in Jupiter FL" ©Mary Montague Sikes

This year, it was especially hard to be a Cardinals fan. From Spring Training on, they suffered injury after injury to key players, including their pitching ace and my favorite player, Adam Wainwright. On top of that, they always seemed to be losing the game. Sometimes they would stage a comeback. They did that 44 times, the most in the Major Leagues. And almost all their games were one-run wins or losses. That was hard. I often longed for a blowout win with no fear of their losing. That happened almost never. They were truly the Cardiac Cardinals.

Even with all their injuries, it seemed someone would always be the "next one up" to step in and make up for the loss. They played well and with lots of heart. With all the adversity, the Cardinals won 100 games and had the best record in baseball for the season. I thought that fact alone should take them to the World Series. It didn't, and the season is over for them and for me.

Now I will have time to write, paint, and teach art classes for the next four months. I will count the days until mid-February and the start of Spring Training.

Being a baseball fan is hard work.