Baseball stuff for those who still love baseball or want to, or just like reading about it, as Americans should

Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez, who reminds of Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs at the plate. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

I’m struggling to sit down and watch the NBA playoffs. Not quite as much, but I’m struggling, too, to sit down and watch the Stanley Cup playoffs.

At least on the ice, in Dallas and Edmonton, two teams I care about remain alive.

Downside, should each win the series they’re in now, they’ll play each other in the Western Conference final, which, for me, will make it still harder to watch.

Should I root for one to lose?

What I’m not struggling to watch, however, is baseball. Not yet 40 games into a 162-game season, between every weekend, I wake up hoping for afternoon baseball.

The older you get, perhaps, the more you run back to childhood.

I hope I can make this entertaining, because all kinds of great things are happening on the diamond.