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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Adrian Chiles

Hardly anyone watches baseball in the UK. So why do we keep speaking its language?

Baltimore Orioles' Gunnar Henderson, left, is tagged out and caught stealing third base by Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13)
A Baltimore Orioles player is tagged out by Tampa Bay Rays’ third baseman during Monday’s game. Photograph: Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

When you’re happy about something, it’s good to share it. And when you’re unhappy about something, it’s also good to share it. But if that something is the performance of your baseball team, and you live in the UK, you’ll have your work cut out finding anyone remotely interested in your feelings on the matter. It’s a strange, lonely place to be.

If my football team let me down, there are plenty of people to talk to about this. Same if they’ve managed to win. But if I’ve been up half the night watching the Tampa Bay Rays lose 6-1 to the Orioles in Baltimore, in the morning there is nowhere to take my dismay. And it’s somehow worse if they’ve won. Does a tree falling in a forest make a sound if there’s no one there to hear it? No idea. But I do know that if the Rays have come from behind to win a game in the 13th inning, and there’s no one with whom to share the happy news, it soon feels as if it might not have happened at all.

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