I love July 31.
And if you are a baseball fan, I’m sure you, too, love July 31.
For those who aren’t baseball fans, July 31 is the trade deadline for players to not have to go through waivers. It’s when teams make their pushes to add players to move forward and go down the stretch toward the playoffs.
It’s been even better the past few years for me as the Phillies have made impact moves nearly every year. From Cliff Lee to Roy Oswalt to Hunter Pence this season, the Phillies make the deadline really fun.
However, it’s also time to watch other teams either load up or go on a selling spree (such as the Astros this year). Though the Phillies got stronger, so did top rivals Atlanta and San Francisco. The Texas Rangers in the AL made two impact moves to make their bullpen one of the best in baseball.
But it’s not just the moves that is exciting — it’s the deadline overall.
This year, with it falling on a Sunday, it was awesome.
I had the MLB Network on the television as they did something like 10 hours of live coverage. Leading into the 4 p.m. deadline, they had insiders and others talking rumors, trades and potential moves.
On the computer, I was watching the Phillies rally to beat Pittsburgh and earn a series sweep. For the record, Pence doubled in the 10th and scored on Raul Ibanez’s double. Awesome.
I was also glued to Twitter and other sports news sites, looking at info all day. Twitter made it that much more fun as following many big sports writers was a lot of fun.
The social media really has taken the deadline to new levels. People are so plugged in and know things extremely quick.
It’s a blast.
And that it was on a weekend made it even better as the majority of games were being played during the deadline.
This is just one of the reasons why I live for baseball. All the football moves that have been happening? Nothing on baseball’s trade deadline. Nothing.
I’ll catch up with football after baseball is over.
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.