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I decided to be a baseball fan again, and a Cubs fan for the first time, in 2020. At that point, I didn’t have any close friends that cared — not enough to really engage in fandom with me. When we attended our first Cubs game as fans, we went as a family and had no idea who else would have wanted to come too, unless they came to cheer for the opposition.

This year the Cubs opened the (stateside) season in Arizona. (I forget about the two games in Japan!) While I attended opening day alone since I was in town for school, we attended the next game with friends who were decked out in Cubs gear and itching to see how the new players performed. Johnny and Angi are longtime Cubs fans, and they’ll be with me at the game in Chicago.

The connection to Johnny and Angi came through shared faith and similar passions. Angi and I met at an event and had a meaningful conversation. She soon visited our church, and eventually Johnny came too. He was curious to see what his wife was so interested in. Somewhere in these early weeks, I caught that they were Cubs fans and began to throw little comments their way about the season. I could tell that they were the types who actually kept tabs. Johnny and I were listening to the same podcast, and Angi was aware of the outcome of games and recent team transactions.

Getting to know people can be a little weird. You never know if things will click or if something will come up that makes you uncomfortable. I have often debated how much to say or share early on, and how to connect over the small stuff. Shared interests like a sport, a board game, your field of work, or a favorite genre of literature can be a bridge. Sometimes one bridge leads to discovering others. Some of those bridges can lead into the deeper layers of life.

With Johnny and Angi, our faith and the Cubs provided and continue to provide a starting point. I find myself making a comment about the last game when I see them, and then we see where things go.

The game in Arizona was somewhat early in the story, and we haven’t really known each other all that long, but something can happen when you take a long drive and cheer for a team with each other. You learn the subtle things, like sense of humor and style of communication. It’s like relational training wheels that can help you get moving.

These days we see the two of them more and have watched some games in their home. We joke about how Johnny and I dabble in being superstitious, trying to figure out if and how we allowed to watch games or what hat we can wear to help the Cubbies win. I connected them to a free pop-up trailer. Johnny and I worked on a hands-on bathroom project. Johnny let me borrow his power tool (a huge relational step for some dudes).

In Chicago, Angi will get to see her first games at Wrigley, and the three of us will try being around each other for more than a day for the first time. The cool thing is that the bonds have grown deeper this year than we may have expected, especially when we consider that just a couple of years ago we were in the same city, going to church in the same zip code, living on the same side of town, but entirely unaware of each other.

Baseball has been a meaningful bridge of connection, but I’m sure we’ll find more. The beauty of fandom is that a team can bring you together with people, and people always have more than just one thing in common.

Here’s to the Cubbies, and all the other bridges we cross to find friends.

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Baseball is a Bridge was originally published in 2,000 Miles to Wrigley on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.