• It will feature two brand new ballparks in New York.
• It will break for the All-Star Game at St. Louis on July 14.
• It will be preceded during Spring Training by the World Baseball Classic.
• Sellouts will be as common as the wafting smell of ballpark dogs.
• It will be filled with joy and pain, like life itself, and you will want it badly.
What you don't know yet is how to plan your schedule around it, and that is all about to change at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday with the always-anticipated release of the next regular-season schedule on MLB.com.
Some of you already are looking forward to it more than others. Maybe your team is alive and well and pursuing a World Series title. Maybe your team is a dreaded spoiler now and testing out lots of September callups. No matter what your team is doing these days, many of you are about to move into 2009 season-ticket mode.
This announcement will prompt many fans to place deposits on 2009 seats, starting a chain of events that ultimately leads to record numbers for overall Major League attendance. Individual clubs treat their 2009 ticketing procedures differently, so take that first opportunity to explore the next schedule, check your own team's official Web site ticketing center and start strategizing.
Just consider the average Tigers fan. If that's you, then you were counting on October magic in 2008 and you wish you could have an April do-over. But that's baseball, and there's no crying. You're still interested in how all this finishes, but the elimination number was one as of Tuesday and what you really want to see is when and where the Tigers are playing in 2009. Many Detroit fans will jump on this first opportunity, and that club is among many accepting deposits.
Indians fans, same with you. After coming so close in the 2007 postseason, what a shock 2008 has been. Now comes the first glimpse of life in 2009, and it will feel like new hope, of the continuum that adds meaning to everything.
This is an annual ritual for many fans, the first chance to plan ahead. In New York, that will have a whole new feeling this time. Wednesday's first look at the season schedule will have an especially high buzz factor in the Big Apple.
The Yankees opened their current stadium against the Red Sox on April 18, 1923 -- and proceeded to win the World Series that year. Only the 2006 Cardinals ever could make the same claim in an open-house season. So the question looms: When does the new Yankee Stadium open and who will be the opponent?
The Mets opened Shea Stadium against the Pirates on April 17, 1964 -- a loss on the way to a 59-103 season. Mets fans obviously will expect the opposite fortunes in the first season for Citi Field, and they are about to find out when they can watch the opener there and what opponent will be there for the occasion.
Right now, it's still about the farewells and inherent emotions at New York's two outgoing parks. The final homestand is underway at Yankee Stadium, and Mets fans still harbor hopes of a world championship to send Shea out in style. But amidst that gradual feeling of closure is about to come a waking sense of longing, of electricity, and a lot of people are about to put down deposits on 2009 Mets and Yankees tickets at the new venues.
What will be the Interleague Play matchups for 2009? Looking ahead to those unique matchups always adds intrigue to the announcement of the schedule, and one has to wonder if the scheduling stars could align so that a certain Milwaukee pitcher named Sabathia might go back to Progressive Field to face his former Indians club. Which divisions face each other in the annual rotation? When will those natural rivalries like Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox and Dodgers-Angels be played?
Cincinnati fans always know when and where their team is opening a season. The Reds are the traditional home opener, always in the daytime on the first Monday, following the annual Findlay Market Opening Day Parade. The only question is which team will be wearing the dark jerseys that day at Great American Ball Park. The reality of dwindling days remaining in a 2008 Reds season is offset by the anticipation of a sure tomorrow, in the form of this 2009 schedule announcement.
It promises to be an especially intriguing start to a regular season, because the World Baseball Classic will be back for its second go-round. That international event will take place during Spring Training, as it did in 2006, featuring players from various MLB rosters, and there again will be the side story of how clubs prepare for their openers in the wake of this important tournament.
Just think how different it will all start in 2009 for the Dodgers, especially; they will be coming off a Spring Training in Arizona for the first time after many decades of exhibitions at Vero Beach, Fla. But who will the Dodgers open the season against? And will they open by raising a big flag representing a 2008 title? Anything could happen at this point, and Wednesday, at least, will reveal their 2009 schedule.
If you're a Red Sox or Cubs fan, then you probably either are entrusted with the unquestioned privilege of tickets to games at hallowed parks -- or you wonder how and when you can get your hands on some. In both cases, Wednesday is a chance to prepare for more blissful moments. MLB.com will have the information you need. Whatever is yet to happen this fall is left to your own imagination.
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