Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

All 30 Major League teams officially open their Spring Training camps this week. Most of the pitchers and catchers are already checked into their Spring Training residences. Many of the position players will follow shortly. This is baseball’s time. The most fortunate players will still be playing in 8½ months. The rest get those early October tee times. Hope springs eternal.

You better have that hope no matter what the odds makers say. They predict — but you play the game. Be that player who defies the odds. Have that undeniable Spring Training where you force your way onto the roster. This is where dreams are made.

There is no sport like baseball. It’s a marathon season that starts in the winter with practice games and then to an early spring time Opening Day through a full summer to be whittled down from 30 teams to just two teams competing in the Fall Classic. Every year, there are 11 postseason teams that leave without a final win in October. Only one will stand victorious in the end.

Baseball is a game of failure — yet the best just fail the least. Health is a key element too. Can you show up to work for 162 days on-time and ready to go? While it isn’t survival of the fittest, baseball’s marathon is grueling. A combination of good health and performing at acceptable levels is the key to staying employed at the big league level.

Only 780 will be employed as Major League Baseball players on Opening Day. An average McDonald’s will serve approximately double that in customers per day. Think about how exclusive baseball employment really is. And yet, no roster of 26 is fully known at this time — because baseball is full of surprises.

Most teams will have well over 50 players in big league camp — and nearly half go north for an Opening Day, some will go back on the unemployment line, others to an injured list, and the rest stay behind for more training. This is part of the process. Many times that process is not fair. Time will tell. We go from assessing good process to results matter in the end. Forget fairness. There’s nothing fair about it for those who don’t make it.

The Washington Nationals will be full of new faces in West Palm Beach. We will introduce you to them all by the time March 26 arrives. Enjoy the marathon. Hope springs eternal.