With Opening Day less than a month away, my mind turns more and more to The Game.

This year the teams that I will be following most closely are:

• Minnesota Twins
• New York Mets
• Pittsburgh Pirates

The Twins collapsed last year due to a combination of injuries and poor situational hitting. They enter this season with injury questions around three key position players: Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, and Royce Lewis. They also have questions around who will be playing 2B and 1B. They do have a great bullpen (on paper maybe the best in the league) and good starting pitching. In my mind they have to be considered the favorites to win the American League Central Division.

The Mets look to be favorites to reach the World Series this season. The addition of Juan Soto who will be batting 2nd behind MVP candidate Francisco Lindor means the Mets have best top of the order in the game. And with Pete Alonso back… if they get pitching, they can go all the way.

The Pirates are my sentimental favorites. Our trip last year to Pittsburgh was magical. This winter I have often found myself trying to figure out how I could justify a return trip to Pittsburgh to watch the Pirates play at PNC again. I wonder if in my retirement I could make it an annual event.

The days are getting longer. The nights warmer. And Opening Day is just around the corner. Maybe there is hope in the world after all.