Like many folks, I've been a baseball fan since I was a kid. My hometown team (Washington, D.C.) relocated twice, once to Minnesota and again to Texas, so there are big gaps in my baseball knowledge. But we inherited the Montreal Expos (with their own rich heritage like Rusty Staub!) in D.C., so I'm back to watching baseball again in my life.

Which brings me to the point. Watching baseball is important because it's something fun to do. It's also something that lots of other folks also enjoy doing, so there's a real sense of community fostered there. Community is what brings and holds us together. Do you ever go to a baseball stadium, and think, while looking at the other fans, how all of you gathering there have something in common? That's an empowering feeling, at least for me it is.

It's fun to talk sports like baseball with others. It's not so much fun to talk politics or religion. So, baseball is a pastime, a diversion from life. I can't tell you how many summer nights I can get caught up in a baseball game after a frustrating day spent writing. I didn't even cared if the Nats lost another game, and they lost many games. Every spring I get the itch for the games to start all over again in earnest.

So, as Hall of Famer Cubbie Ernie Banks says, let's play two!

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Ask the Dice, a hit man crime novel set in Washington, D.C.