The Last Game

As the World Series winds down, the finality becomes reality

It may not be tonight, but it will be some night soon that the World Series, and the 2026 MLB Season, ends and our perhaps long nightmare begins.

Sometime soon we’ll watch the last MLB baseball game for who knows how long.

Everyone understands that on December 1, the players will almost certainly be locked out by the owners, and no one knows when that will end or whether there will be MLB games in 2027.

My son is currently being optimistic, choosing to believe that those predicting a long lockout said the same thing last time around and look how that ended up.

Until he hears something “official”, he believes too much is at stake for both sides to miss an entire season.

Me, I’m older, have been through more in life, and believe more along the lines of “If there’s a way to screw it up, both sides will.”

With the “it” being the sport of baseball.

It’s really human nature, or as Don Henley once sang:

What are these voices
Outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment
And beg for something more?

Being famous and rich isn’t enough for either side, apparently, when there is more to be got, and both sides are “begging for something more” despite doing quite well at the moment.

I know it’s big business and more complicated than that, but it’s difficult to see from a working man’s day-to-day perspective, even one that spends thousands of dollars a year on baseball games.

I don’t pretend to understand the issues deeply, but I do know fans want to see baseball and they will pay to do so.

I’m just wondering if “they” will give us the opportunity to do so?

For me, I have a plan for this site if there is either a late start to the 2027 season or no 2027 MLB season at all.

My son and I will travel the state to see minor league games and prospects we otherwise wouldn’t be able to see, and I’ll have more disposable income and time to travel.

I’m looking forward to watching the guys who are still trying to make it, the future stars, that is, if the owners and players don’t kill the sport before they get there.

Sometime soon we’ll see the last out of the 2026 season, and for many fans that might be the last out they ever watch of MLB.

We say it every time, but it’s really a shame that it’s come to this.

It’s also predictable and purposely done.

That’s the real shame.