It used to be that I got really sad around August, knowing that there were only 2 more months of baseball left. I could even get a twinge in June or July when I looked at my pile of August tickets, so I stopped looking forward past my July games.

That all changed in 2010 when the baseball season went well into October and included a World Series.  By the start of the 2013 season, after 2 World Series wins and baseball lasting into November, I lost the August sadness and replaced it with eternal hope and anticipation, riding on a baseball high that only championship teams and fans can understand.  Knowing that the season would most likely carry me and my friends past October was the best Thanksgiving gift ever!

I was hoping that this, an odd year (Giants and other baseball fans will recognize this reference) would break the even-year cycle and bring a fourth trophy to San Francisco. Things seemed to be going so well for the first four or five months.

Nick Noonan, 2015 Giants Scrubbinie, @ spring training ’14.

But I’m slowly coming to the realization that it may not happen this year. It’s hard enough to repeat a championship, but with so many key players injured, well, the writing is on the wall. Maybe . . .

I must say, though, that the Scrubbinies* like Nick Noonan have done pretty well, considering their collective inexperience at the major league level. You never know what the baseball gods have in mind for the last month of the season.

September baseball is still pretty exciting, and with a little over 20 games left to play, almost anything can happen. And it has. Baseball history is full of major fails and incredible sprints to the finish. So fingers are crossed.

For a real baseball fan like me, in spite of my allegiance to the Giants, this has been an interesting season with a number of unexpected teams heading for potential playoff berths. September is a time to pay attention to all the teams while cheering for your own team, even it they’re not on top of the pile. At least not today.  After all, they could be spoilers for the team you least want to make the post season (like that team in blue). To paraphrase Marty Lurie, there’s still a lot of baseball to play and you just never know . . .

Duane Kuiper, the ultimate Scrubbinie, sporting 1 of his 3 World Series rings.

*Scrubbinie: a term of endearment for the second and third stringers. There are a number of spellings, and you won’t find it in the regular dictionary but it’s a common sports term for back-up players. Duane Kuiper, Giants broadcaster, has used this term a lot, having been a Scrubbinie himself. And a good one at that!