Not counting playoffs,
football’s season is 17 games,
hockey’s 82 as is basketball’s.
But baseball’s length stretches
to an inordinate 162 games
which renders each game statistically
and dramatically insignificant.
Baseball, why do you go on and on?
Do you think we have nothing else to do?
Why not cut your schedule in half?
I will tell you why we leave
baseball rich in history and lore alone.
It conforms to the orderly
rhyme and rhythm of the seasons –
falling snow of Minnesota in April,
rising heat of July in Arizona,
long shadows of September in New York.
It contours our bodies,
engages our minds,
adhering itself to the passing
seasons of our lives.