There will be Reds baseball to watch tomorrow after all - it’s just a bit dusty

Just barely over a year ago, Cincinnati Reds 2B Scooter Gennett tried to move a little too quickly for a Cactus League grounder, giving himself a groin injury that has more or less wrecked his career, in hindsight. While that was devastating at the time to a Reds club that had finally been active in trying to get better and win games, it opened the door for a former Miami Marlin who, to that point, was no owner of a roster spot.

Derek Dietrich claimed said roster spot, and wasted little time endearing himself to Reds fans everywhere, his vivid enthusiasm matched only by his early season heroics. Those heroics started with his very first PA, you’ll recall, as he blasted a pinch-hit 3-run dinger on Opening Day to turn the tides against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tomorrow was supposed to bring us new baseball, a 2020 season that had an entire winter of optimism in the fuel tanks behind it. That, like most everything in life at the moment, has been put on hold during the pandemic, so for now we’re forced to turn backwards to experience baseball.

Fortunately, MLB has begun to open up their archives, and tomorrow is rolling out a full slate of old baseball for us to try to enjoy again. For Reds fans, that means a replay of last year’s Opening Day, and it will be watchable on YouTube at 1 PM ET. The entire schedule on multiple platforms is listed in in the tweet below from Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser.

I have very mixed emotions about the entire idea. On the one hand, it’s baseball, and it’s watchable, and that’s a combination of things that have historically lent heavy hands in getting my sugars up. On the other hand, though, watching GABP be a packed mad-house and seeing the crowd erupt on such an important stage might just break what’s left of my baseball heart even more, as it’ll just serve as one more obvious reminder that it’s not around for real at the moment.

I’ll most likely watch, though, even if it brings a bit of a tear to the eye. There’ll be the emergence of Luis Castillo as an absolute force, a Joey Votto double, bullpen drama, and the likes. There’ll be the Reds - our Reds - doing their Red-level best. It may be life without live baseball, but that doesn’t mean we have to kick our habit cold turkey, so lean on this one instead while you can.