EXTRA: Beisbol over for season, but returns to all of us next week

Another baseball season has come to an end, with the Caguas Creoles (champions of the Roberto Clemente League in Puerto Rico) bringing some joy to the hurricane-devastated Caribbean island by beating the Dominican League champ Cibao Eagles (of Santiago, D.R.) 8-4 Thursday night in the championship game of this year’s Caribbean Series.

Not that it will be too long before the crack of the bat entertains those fans who yearn for the smell of a leather glove or have been fulfilling their baseball fix with viewings of Ken Burns’ nearly quarter-century-old “Baseball” documentary – spring training camps open next week. Both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs begin their preparations for the 2018 season Wednesday in Arizona.

SO I GET a weekend to get over the fact that the Culiacan Tomato Growers, the Pacific League of Mexico champs, got their behinds handed to them during the past week and weren’t even close to qualifying for the game determining the unofficial champions of Latin American beisbol.

Before shifting to a mindset of wondering whether the White Sox will continue with their talk of a ball club rebuild that could put dreams of a 2019 or 2020 World Series appearance in our dreams. (A Sox/Cubs World Series for '20, anyone?)

For those who can’t get through this weekend without some baseball-related talk, consider this video snippet of long-time Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster (and Miller Lite pitchman) Bob Uecker on the Tonight Show – telling us of the “wonders” of spring training.

And you’ll definitely have to admire his sports jacket – the notion that anyone could think of wearing such tacky garb on national television astounds the mind.

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