My baseball team, the Oakland A’s, are in first place today.
This is exciting, because nobody saw this coming at the beginning of the season, not even me. We’ve languished for a number of years after trading away our best (and impendingly expensive) players after falling short in the 2014 playoffs. ’15, ’16, and ’17 were lost years. 2018 wasn’t really supposed to be anything different. Perhaps a step forward with our young, emerging squad–the first home-grown crop of players I can remember in a very, very long time–but nothing that would approach “first place.”
We’ve arrived early.
This team is exciting precisely because they’ve arrived early. Our players are young. They’ve all played together for years in our minor league system. This season has shown that they’re already SO good, we may have years of contention before we inevitably lose them to free agency…and if the A’s have their way, that may not even happen, because we’ll have a stadium opening, a new TV deal, and an influx of cash to stabilize a franchise that has really flailed over the past 20-odd years.
It’s really, really exciting. A long window is what you need to win a World Series. Several years of contending to reach the final prize, and even then, soooo many good teams never make it all the way.
I wrote today. 1,500 words, and good ones, too. Keepers. I’ll write another 1,500 to 1,000 tomorrow. It’ll be an incredibly solid week of writing, even with the “lost” day on Friday.
I love my new schedule. I don’t have to be perfect in order to hit my goals.
This book is going to be finished, or at least written, by the end of this month. That’s…man, the step forward that is cannot be understated. From seven months to six weeks. What a gain.
Night y’all.