Despite the fact I get paid to be in school now as a substitute teacher, I’m no more eager to be here than I was as a student. And rather than discuss the angst I feel at the start of another year as it was stressful returning to college every summer. I’ll relate it to baseball.

In our house Labor Day meant the end of regularly attending Cubs games because of school. So inherently school was a bad thing. Even after college and I was in grad school, it got in the way of our season ticket package. Because of this, Mom got to see more Pirates-Cubs games in the early 90’s than she should have had to. She knew more about Sid Bream and Rafael Belliard’s strengths than even their family members.

Before heading out of state for college, Dad tried to get me to Wrigley for one last game on Labor Day even if we had family commitments that day. For most of my youth the team was pretty damn mediocre, at best, but that didn’t matter a lick. Whether Labor Day fell on the 1st or later in the week, it always coincided with the expansion of rosters to 40 players. That all changed with COVID. Before September 1, teams carry 26 players (rather than 25) but now only bump to 28.

I know before COVID a group of managers hated the larger roster because opposing managers took advantage to disrupt things for teams vying for a postseason berth. That being said, and MLB’s inflexibility in addressing that particular aspect, fans loved seeing September call-ups even if made for scorecard nightmares. As too many players are rushed to the big leagues too quickly these days, there are fewer young players that we haven’t seen by September. Most teams fighting for their postseason lives are more prudent about their September additions. The Cubs are a perfect example of this shift. They just added veterans Carlos Santana and Aaron Civale and Joe Ross is waiting in the wings. The Phillies also took a chance with Walker Buehler, Buehler. Fans of teams out of contention surely would prefer seeing more of their younger prospects than guys merely collecting a check.

A friend of mine pointed out what’s become a horrible trend in holiday baseball. Yesterday there were only 13 games played, and I can imagine (because the Cubs missed out in recent years) what fans in Los Angelos, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Anaheim felt when they didn’t play. In case you don’t realize, yesterday was the final Monday of 2025 without any NFL games. This was a window that MLB should have taken advantage of-celebrating a great day. Instead, the commissioner (lowercase p) will probably suggest playing a game in a bowling alley to tap a new market.

Did anybody watch UNC football hoping Belichick would win? Or is he as unlikeable person in sports today?

For those of us not obsessing over our fantasy football rosters, September offers us the opportunity to rate and debate the merits of all the late season acquisitions. Even evaluating the AL East is more entertaining than finding someone to take Dak Prescott off my hands.

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