Maya had just finished opening her birthday presents, and while she seemed more interested in her brand-new Littlest Pet Shop toys, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the rubber playground ball she’d just unwrapped. The design of Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends on the ball didn’t dissuade me from bouncing it around a bit.
When the party had dispersed, my girls and I hung around for a while with Maya, her parents and her kid sister at their house. After pizza, I found the right time to ask if anyone was interested in some kickball. Maya, now 5 years old and ready to learn new sports, said she was game. So did her dad, Brent, as well as my Katie.
At age 8, Katie had never played kickball before. Neither had Maya. So Brent and I got to work: We used a combination of patio furniture and playground sand to assemble the bases, we showed the girls how to kick and run, and we encouraged them to stop when they knew they couldn’t advance safely to the next base.
In her pink princess dress, Maya must have gone 10-for-10 in the game. She was an all-star. Katie switched from her new Jessica Simpson-brand party shoes to her sneakers, and she notched about 10 hits of her own. Brent and I alternated between pitching, hitting, coaching and umpiring. In the end, we got a good half-hour of activity out of Miss Spider and her bouncy ball.
The best thing about kickball on the day before Easter – aside from the awesome boing! the ball makes when you kick it – was the simple fact that no one kept score. Everybody won in this game, and the girls felt empowered by their kickball excellence.
The games in which no one wins or loses are always the best ones. In the big leagues, they start keeping score for real tonight, and tomorrow is the traditional Opening Day for Major League Baseball. Once that first pitch is thrown, the scoreboard kicks into high gear.
So, as the season begins, it’s time for predictions. Last year, I forecast a Dodgers-Yankees World Series, with Los Angeles triumphing in seven games. I had the correct American League team, and as a Yankees fan I was pleased to see New York win it all by defeating the Phillies last November.
In 2010, I can’t see the Yankees missing the playoffs this year. They’ll win their division in the American League, and will be joined by the Chicago White Sox, the upstart Texas Rangers, and the wild-card Tampa Bay Rays in the playoffs. New York and Tampa will meet for the pennant, with the Yankees’ pitching hold off the immensely talented Rays.
In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies have built themselves a dynasty, and their powerful hitters will lead them to another division crown in 2010. The rest of the league features a lot of teams with glimmers of greatness, yet significant holes, especially in starting pitching. I see the best overall hitting clubs joining the Phillies, namely the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and surprising wild-card Arizona Diamondbacks. In the playoffs, these other NL teams will fall quickly at the feet of the Phillies, who will return to meet the Yankees in the World Series again this year.
Boring, I know – the same two teams in the Fall Classic two years in a row. But sometimes, that’s just the way it goes. Sometimes, teams are built for more than one year of greatness. It’s a year for defending your pennant, and then for defending your title. New York in six, once again.
But enough of that. One team will win the World Series, and 29 other teams won’t. As for Maya, Katie and the rest of us, we’ve got kickball games at our disposal all spring and summer. All you need is a little inspiration from Miss Sunny Patch, a few bases, and a nice pitch down the middle. Let’s play some ball.
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