MLB: The 'bomb'

By Ed Piper

Why I never bought MLB Extra Innings' full-season package of games (I can view almost every game of every team all season) before is beyond me.

But, wait--I know why.

It's totally addicting.

I did do the math last Monday before I called Spectrum to sign up: With just two trips either downtown to Petco Park to see the Padres and/or driving up to Angels Stadium to view Shohei Ohtani pitch (9-2 last year, with a devastating split-finger fastball, then bat lead off the bottom of the first inning for the home team--the first major leaguer ever to do that in the history of baseball), I would use up the amount I am paying to view the full season on MLB Extra Innings.

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Last Monday (April 11), the fifth day of the 2022 season, I signed up. My mentality, immediately, was "I'm going to watch every single game."

Well, you knew that wasn't going to last.

But for the first couple of days, tapping the "MLB" app on my smartphone, hooking up my phone to a portable charger that would last me an entire game, or multiple games, through a day (I ended up buying a mini-charger that holds 10,400 Amh, fits right in my shirt pocket so I go about my activities, subbing or otherwise, and listen), I was "out there".

Enjoying it...

Watching my preferred team, which is out of the area, instead of starting out the 2022 season discouraged I wouldn't be able to view their games again this year. Just amazing.

Plus the Padres, who have had a good start under new manager Bob Melvin, hired away from the A's.

Watching Ohtani and Mike Trout of the Angels (I drove up to Anaheim for their season opener Thurs., April 7), C.J. Abrams, the Padres' rookie only three years out of high school, Spencer Torkelson, a highly-touted rookie, Freddie Freeman, after 12 years on the World Series-winning Braves going to his new team up in L.A....

Coming out of COVID, this is a way to celebrate our ability to move about and enjoy some of the things that were restricted during the two years (March 13, 2020 on) of the worst part of the pandemic in this area:

--The players and owners came to an agreement on the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) for another five years on March 10 (I immediately drove to Arizona for Spring Training; see other post on that).

--The DH was introduced into the National League (I'm sad as a traditionalist, but it was inevitable). 

--Umpires are now miked up to receive challenges during game action, then clarify what the decision in (presumably) New York is.

--And next year, the shift is said to being outlawed, with two players having to position themselves on each side of second base (it is just killing baseball, with no hit-and-run, no "small ball", just home runs or strikeouts). There are so many other happenings that set up for a fun and fascinating season.

There are so many enjoyable storylines. I play like I know the "inside game" of baseball. Gary Frank, the long-time head coach of the Viking baseball team, would laugh at my (lack of) baseball knowledge. But watching Hunter Greene, the 104-mph pitching phenom of the Cincinnati Reds, try to set up hitters (he lost his second career start to L.A. Saturday night when his 100-plus-mph fastball got turned around for some key hits) is interesting. Something I have wanted to grow in the knowledge of.

A hysterical anecdote from my first week watching MLB Extra Innings: From Monday afternoon (when I signed up) till Thursday, earlier in the day, I was viewing games on my phone in a tiny window in the middle of the screen. I tried different things, but I could not get the scoreboard display in the middle of the screen out of the way when I turned my phone sideways.

I finally found an icon with multiple levels depicted, and voila! I got a "full view" across my phone (when I held it horizontally) for much better viewing! To think I watched games on a limited, tiny screenlet for two and a half days is funny; it also makes the bigger display much more appreciated.

So, I have my portable charger to 100-percent charge, I have my cables and iPhone at the ready, and here, on getaway Monday morning, there is an MLB game with warmup starting at 8:10 a.m. (in Boston) our time. Wow! Let's get an early start.