Football is over! Time for baseball season

The Super Bowl is now over. Football season is now over.

It’s time for baseball. It’s almost time for Braves baseball.

The Braves pitchers and catchers report for spring training on February 12, so that’s 10 days away. Position players report two weeks from Monday, on February 17, with the first full squad workout the next day. And four days later, on February 22, the Braves will start the 2020 season in their new spring training home, CoolToday Park in North Port, FL.

There will be much anticipation, as the Braves have spent money this offseason on the bullpen (Will Smith), the rotation (Cole Hamels) and the starting lineup (Travis d’Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna). Like every other new year, the roster will be different, but the goal remains the same for a team that has won two straight division championships.

And, we all know, that’s not enough this season. The Braves want more. The fans need more.

It’s been 19 years since the Braves won a playoff series. Subtract 19 years off your age and see how young you were in 2001 when it last happened. We’ve all grown older since the Braves played in the LCS against the Diamondbacks, and some of us have even doubled our age since the team won the World Series in 1995.

Like last year, it will be a challenge. The World Series champs are in Atlanta’s division, and the Washington Nationals might want to win the East this time around. The Phillies now have a manager with a brain, and the Mets still have that vaunted rotation.

The Braves still have young kids. Ronald Acuna, Jr. is still just 22 years old, while Ozzie Albies just turned 23 last month. Freddie Freeman is now the ole veteran at 30, while the Braves still have two young top prospects in 21-year old kids named Drew Waters and Cristian Pache.

Who will be the breakout player this season? Who will lead that first big late-inning comeback? What player will disappoint us and which one will shock us all? How good can this team be?

We’ve got plenty of questions, and there’s plenty of time to figure out the answers. And now that football is over, it’s getting close. Really close.