And no, it’s not “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

The sweetest words of February are some variation of this email headline from a Dodgers media release received today:

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT TO SPRING TRAINING

All that’s missing is an exclamation point.

Ah … baseball is coming back, and all is right with the world.

It’s odd, really, that many of us should feel our spirits rise, when we see those words. Especially those of us who live in a place where the winter is the fine time of the year.

For those who live in the Rust Belt, though, “pitchers and catchers report” means winter will end. Really. (Think “Chicago” or “Boston”.)

It means your team is getting together. It means opening day isn’t far off. It means spring is about to be sprung. It might mean a roadtrip with a couple of friends to your team’s training site.

(Now that I think of it, if I’m ever back in Southern California in February or March, I am going to take a roadtrip to the Dodgers training site at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. Anyone with me?)

It means exhibition games, and lazing in the stands on an afternoon and watching guys who will be in Double-A in a couple of weeks.

It means baseball is nigh, and no matter how dire the news from the rest of the world might be, the Boys of Summer are on the way back, and they are still unbeaten.