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On Sunday afternoon I ventured out to the hallowed turf of the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch the second game of the opening series of the 2014 Major League Baseball season between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Regular readers of The Roar would know that I enjoy all sports, but it would be fair to point out that baseball isn’t exactly one of my first loves. I know enough about the game to impress Americans with my knowledge of their favourite pastime, but not enough to engage in an intellectual debate.
Be that as it may, there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to watch a game of Major League Baseball in Sydney, and the decision was made even easier whey my beloved mother bought me a ticket for my birthday.
As previously mentioned in this forum, my default MLB team was the New York Yankees, yet it was made quite apparent to me that this was equal parts laziness, bandwagon inhabitation and just plain evil.
The Yankees are reviled, and seeing as my only connection to the franchise was a love of New York City and an admiration of Derek Jeter’s list of female conquests, I had little hesitation in seeking a new team, so as to avoid the bandwagon tag any true sports fan hates.
I bleed the purple and gold of the Los Angeles Lakers. Magic Johnson – their greatest player and my favourite basketballer – is part-owner of the Dodgers.
Once I learned that, I had the emotional connection required to get excited about the MLB’s foray into the Australian market, along with a team to call my own.
I can obviously only speak for myself, but MLB bringing games to Sydney has had the impact the competition hierarchy desired. I am now extremely interested and invested in the Major League Baseball season.
Having watched budding superstar Yasial Puig in the flesh, I will now follow his career closely.
I will do so with the misguided belief that we are somehow ‘connected’, especially given the nonchalance with which he catches outfield balls. I was the exactly same at gully. Ahem.
Now that I know what Clayton Kershaw takes home each week in his pay packet, I will be forced to support his pitching in America, knowing that the poor bugger is much worse off than me, and will struggle to put a roof over his head.
I always have a soft spot for battlers.
I have no affiliation with the Diamondbacks, yet I suddenly wish Mark Trumbo a fantastic season, and hope he can hit many more ‘dingers’ like the one he belted in the ninth innings of the game on Sunday.
There are also many other players and subplots I will now be keenly interested to follow in the majors this year.
Which is exactly the point of bringing ‘the big show’ to Sydney: to grow the game beyond its borders and garner new interest. This not only increases global ratings, but increases MLB’s nursery of potential players in the future.
I fully realise that it may appear like a sample of just one, but after the conversations I had at nearby watering holes and on social media after the game, it was evident that I’m far from alone in now being more interested in MLB.
This would suggest that the MLB bringing their cherished game to our shores was a resounding success.
Go the Dodgers.