Dunlap: Savor Every September Pitch
September is upon us.
For such a long, long time in Pittsburgh --- too long, actually --- it signified the beginning of the football season and not, well, the thrilling end-run of the baseball season.
That's because baseball, for the most part, was done by the sometime in June for the longest time here in Pittsburgh; just one big going-through-the-motions until the Steelers jolted out on that field, you filled parking lots and blew bullhorns hours before games and your helmet-clad heroes tried to smash each other into oblivion.
But no more.
The next 30 days --- and a couple more that bleed over into October in the regular season --- should provide us with ups and downs, with an ebb and flow, an undulation of emotion that only a city enveloped in a pennant chase can realize.
We will hang on each game, adjust our schedules so we are in front of televisions for the first pitch, go down to the North Side just to hang out even if we don't have tickets and, in a sense, rearrange our whole existences to make sure we are part of this ride.
We did the same thing the last few seasons.
And we will do it again this coming month.
But with all that said, I offer a warning as a born and bred Pittsburgher who is 38 and lived through the Bonds, Bonilla, Drabek great seasons, then the terrible drought and now these high times again: Don't take one moment of this for granted.
Yes, it could all be gone next season.
Certainly, the arrow is pointed up for the Pirates to have sustained excellence, as the core of this franchise looks to be secure for a decent bit here in our fair city of steel, but anything can happen.
There could be injury.
There could be injuries.
There could be a slump.
There could be slumps.
There could a mixture of factors --- chiefly the Cubs and Cardinals not going anywhere --- that could get in the way of the Pirates making the playoffs in the years to come.
So this month, savor every pitch, cherish each inning, appreciate all the games --- who knows if this will happen again next season.
With this recent run of success for the Pirates, it feels as if there has been an expectation that these pennant chases will just happen perpetually in Pittsburgh; that the calendar will flip to September and the Bucs will still be battling for the top spot in the division.
Damn, I sure hope it plays out that way for a long, long time. What an exhilarating place this is when our Pirates are locked in a tussle for that top spot in the NL Central.
But I remember back in the 1990s when the Pirates would grapple for the crown in the National League East, and they marched out successive 95, 98 and 96-win seasons. It was a time in which many realized they might lose some players, but really none of us understood the barren dearth of wins that was to follow the next few decades.
These Pirates, again, seem insulated from such a dropoff.
But, please, understand that anything could happen. It is cliché as all could be, but there are really no guarantees.
That said, the one guarantee is that this next month shapes up to be another electrifying and captivating time for baseball in this grand town.
Do yourself a favor: savor every pitch, cherish each inning, appreciate all the games --- who knows if this will happen again next season.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
