Love and baseball schedules

We've been anxiously awaiting the release of the 2011 MLB schedule, which finally came out tonight.

About halfway through this season, we bought full season tickets for the rest of the year at Nationals Park, which came after my mostly-in-jest battle with the Nationals ticketing office and Sharon's discovery that she has a favorite baseball team. Between then and now, we've acquired about 12 Nationals T-shirts (Sharon has one each for pitchers Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard and yet another urging the Nats to Let Teddy Win), five or six ballcaps (one of which Sharon got Clippard to sign during a blood drive), two balls I caught during batting practice (one of which Sharon later got pitcher Doug Slaten to sign when she spotted him in plainclothes in the stands during his suspension), two or three songs from iTunes that the players use when they come to bat (the full list is here; my favorite is "Prrrrum" for Alberto Gonzalez, despite the fact that Cosculluela appears to be wearing a Pirates hat in the music video, though I am also partial to Pudge's early '90s "Check Yo Self" goodness), numerous gross-out moments from Adam Kennedy's disgusting habit of spitting his chewing tobacco into his hand and then tossing it into the outfield after reaching base, and various other Nationals knick-knacks.

So, yeah, we've grown to like the team a fair bit.

We're definitely going to renew our season tickets for next year, but we haven't decided yet between the full or half season plan. One big consideration was whether we'd have to miss a bunch of home games around our June 4 wedding in San Francisco (and also have to find a way to dispose of the tickets). We were planning to get to California a few days before and then maybe take a weeklong honeymoon.

Turns out, the Nationals will be on an 11-game road trip (their longest of the season) at precisely that time. Sharon noticed this and was blown away. Then I pointed out the cities where the team would be traveling: Phoenix (where Sharon first worked out of college and where she got her surprise proposal), San Francisco (Sharon's hometown and our wedding locale), and San Diego (my hometown and unanimous best city in America). Not to mention that NL East teams only visit each NL West team once a year, making the scheduling fluke that much more unlikely.

I'm not usually one for signs, but this coincidence makes me incredibly happy. I can't wait for another season at the ballpark with my all-time favorite seatmate.