Is Bad Baseball Better Than NO Baseball ?

We’ve all spilled countless words, both in articles and comments describing, chronicling, analyzing, and bemoaning the epic face plant that has become the 2021 Diamondbacks. There won’t be a single chart or stat in this article, you’ve heard it all before. What I’m mostly thinking about today is why I look forward to off days and what that says about my fandom, and this team’s place in my priorities.

In a world that is so often torn apart by divisions at every level of society, we hope that the team we root for can be a unifying force, a team that brings us together in joy and happiness despite everything else that is going on in the world. Or we simply hope, as lovers of the game and athletic endeavor, we can be entertained by these athletes performing in ways we can only dream of achieving.

Instead, what has happened with the Diamondbacks has been depressing baseball that we here at the Pit mostly endure as die hard fans. Those that are fans of basketball and the Phoenix Suns have been able to find more than refuge in that team’s rise from the ashes to the doorstep of championship glory. They’ve created an energy and positivity that is being shared by long term fans and band wagoners alike. That has not only lessened the blow from what has become of the baseball team, but most likely helped to totally eclipse and squeeze out the D-backs from the emotional spaces of their hearts, at least for now.

Of course many feel both the joy of the Sun and the pain of the D-backs equally. But for those that are primarily baseball and Diamondbacks fans, this season has been the ultimate kick in the groin. It’s been depressing, maddening, mystifying and even divisive. How many times, in how many different ways have we asked ourselves and each other, “how can they be this bad?”

I mentioned in the recap thread something Keegan said when we met up yesterday. I believe it was his fiancee, (and I’m paraphrasing) that said to him how awful it must feel to have gone without being able to go to any games last year at all, and were so happy to finally be able to come back, only to have THIS (disgusted wave towards the field) be what you get to watch and experience. This discussion was being had in the middle of yet several more defensive miscues and listless at bats.

I pined away for baseball last year. We all did. The version we got in 2020 was better than nothing, or so I said at the time, but it wasn’t satisfying. 2021 started out weird with limited attendance and all that. But little by little things are returning to normal. (Albeit with trepidation on my part due to the Delta+ Variant, but I digress). I should be ecstatic. I should be grateful just to be able to go to games, and watch on T.V. I should have such an appreciation for this that even seeing the poor quality of play would not dim my enthusiasm.

But this.....this.....monstrosity of a season is making me look forward to off days. Watching people I have a great deal of admiration for as human beings go through this is disheartening. Of course in the grand scheme of things, it’s still not that important, and that’s something you’d think I would have learned by now. So why do I allow this situation to make me feel so damn depressed at times ?

Is enduring this brand of baseball better than having no baseball at all ?