Today is Opening Day! My favorite day of the year! Well, maybe in any other year. It is incomprehensible to me that baseball, or any sport for that matter, will be played right now.

We don’t deserve it. And it pains me to think of all the resources going towards making baseball happen in as safe of a manner as possible that could be used to help the general public right now.

Or to think about players that positive for a virus that has potentially unknown and severe long term effects. And to think how we gloss over that fact and just place them on an injured list like they strained a calf (or lost a fight with a wild boar).

And really, what purpose does baseball have for the fans at this time? To serve as a distraction? A distraction from the trifecta that is a deadly virus, massive unemployment, and racial injustices? Or is it so people can feel some sense of normalcy in a completely upended time?

None of the above will be fixed if we get distracted and forget about it all.

But, you know what, baseball doesn’t care that I have moral objections to it being played right now. So, yeah, I may as well watch. Trust me, I’m much too horrified still to forget about everything else in this country to allow myself to be distracted.

Every pitch I watch and catch a glimpse of empty stands or cardboard cutouts will be a painful reminder of how far we are from being normal. Every time I hear the fake crowd noise. Or whenever I see a first base coach wearing a mask.

I’m going to watch because it doesn’t matter if I don’t. I’ll allow myself to get invested in the Mets, probably only to have my hopes crushed in September as usual. Or, they’ll finally will a damn World Series and no one will ever recognize it as legitimate.

(Because 60 games and 16 playoff teams seems legit)

I can simultaneously think that baseball should take the whole year off, that this is wrong, while also wanting to root for the Mets and enjoy all (well, most this year) of the things I love about being a fan of baseball. So, yeah, Let’s Go Mets, I guess. #LFGM