The Baseball Cycle Continues: 2010 Season Starts ... Now

The end of one baseball season simply marks the start of the next. Hope springs eternal, etc., etc. This is the beauty of sports: there’s always next year. For every gutshot we take from our team, there’s comfort in the realization that they’ll play again, and redemption could be hiding right around the corner.

Over at The Fightins, they’re already taking solace in this constant:

And just like that, the season is over.

At first, this recap felt like an obituary. Here lies the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies, it started out with. That theme continued for about 50 or so words, until I realized something: It’s wrong.

It’s wrong, and I’ll tell you why: 2009 wasn’t the death of something. These Phillies aren’t getting taken apart from a fire sale spurred on by cheap management. There are no pending free agents that anchor the team, and the owner doesn’t have a beef with the skipper.

For the most part, this team is going to be back in 2010.

So that’s where we are. A team that lost the World Series to continue an improbable, glorious run that dates back to April of 2008. A team that fought through adversity and tragedy and triumph and sorrow and glee and more. A team that won’t go away quietly. A team that won’t die.

So here they are; their 2009 hopes drowned in champagne stains and confetti clouds.

But that run doesn’t stop on a chilly November night in the Bronx.

It’s where it starts.

A new season starts now. Today. On a chilly night in November, after losing the last game of the season, is where it all begins.

Here’s another positive for you Phillies fans: At least you got to wait until November to start thinking about next season. Some of us (/points thumbs at self) starting looking forward to 2010 sometime around early July.