Picture this: It’s a bright beautiful day in July, the sun is beaming down on you, the energy around you circles you like a warm hug, and the Phillies are playing a game while you cheer them on at the Citizen’s Bank Park. The enthusiasm is almost palpable, and you can’t help but feel the wide stretch of a smile form across your face. After all, it’s baseball season.
Everyone has heard about seasonal depression. The type of depression that occurs regularly during certain seasons of the year, typically in the fall and winter months due to lack of sunlight, poor weather, and shorter days. But what most don’t know is that it is not spring that brings the joy back into their everyday lives…it’s the start of the MLB season.
Major League Baseball’s first game of the regular season took place on March 27th and kicked off the start of spring, sun, and tans. There’s nothing more exhilarating than getting together with a sports fan base and cheering for your team. Dreary days, pale skin, and 4 p.m. sunsets are replaced with walk-up songs, hot dogs, and ice-cold water ice.
And no one does baseball like the Philadelphia Phillies. There’s something magical about the atmosphere in Citizen Bank Park, especially when Bryce Harper hits a homer or Zack Wheeler throws a great fastball. The ring of the bell is like music, and people can start to feel summer creeping around the corner.
Baseball is a great stress reliever (except for when big bets are placed, of course). Even when a team is losing, the act of coming together with so many people in passion is therapeutic and unifying.
In some ways, winter can feel isolating. It’s so cold out that it feels more comfortable to stay holed up in your house rather than brave the chilly weather. But when March comes around, it’s a signal that better times are soon approaching, and those moments in a stadium are the best memories to cherish.
To those who might not be hardcore baseball fans, being surrounded by others who are is just as much fun. No matter who you are or what team you root for, baseball can bring out so much satisfaction.
This article wouldn’t be accurate without the mention of the Phillies players. Getting to cheer on our favorite team while we watch them progress through the season is the best feeling in the world. Watching Castellanos’ sassiness, J.T Realmuto’s amazing plays, and even Brandon Marsh’s dripping wet hair is happiness in a bottle. And it’s not just the baseball team in Philly. Every city has these different connections which is one of the reasons the MLB is so freeing around this time of year.
Baseball season has become the new antidepressant, so the next time you sit down to watch baseball—whether at home or at the CBP—just know it’s thawing out the iciness still logged into your heart from the winter months. Hopefully, come October, the Phillies will follow the Eagles’ lead and go all the way, making fans brim with even more happiness and leave the lows of the past months in the dirt.
