Remnants of a tree, Calabasas, February 1. One person I showed this photo to asked, “Who is that?”

In some ways, there’s nothing better than being awake in the middle of the night. It’s only a shame you have to pay the price later in the day. 

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. It wasn’t because of these thoughts, but as the next hour passed, it seemed like as good a time as any to get them out of my system. 

* * *

  • The timing of the Mookie Betts trade suddenly seems less than ideal. Hopefully it still pays off.
  • Every moment we have left with Clayton Kershaw on the mound is precious, and we are already losing too many of them.  
  • The Dodger Stadium renovations no longer have a deadline this month.
  • We had tickets for the third game of the regular season, March 28, and nothing about it excited me more than just being back at that ballpark. Imagine now what that’s going to feel like when the first time back actually happens.  
  • If baseball comes back this year, I think there’s an argument to get the season going sooner with shortened games for the first few weeks than to wait for starting pitchers to build up arm strength in Spring Training II. Think of it as a jump start. Five-inning games the first week, with the expectation that starting pitchers go about three innings, and then add an inning each week. 
  • I know it’s a bad idea. I field-tested it Sunday on Twitter. I just can’t get it out of my head. 
  • The argument for the above heresy includes getting all those who are employed on a seasonal basis by the baseball industry back to work as soon as possible. 
  • But personally, I just don’t know how much patience I’ll have for weeks of exhibitions. 
  • Expanded rosters are the more likely route MLB will take to accelerate the process. Whatever works. 
  • It’s amazing to think that normally, our biggest worry this month on this site would be something the level of “Matt Beaty or Edwin Rios.”
  • I worry that baseball will follow this hiatus with a strike in two years. There’s no ignoring the current priorities, but I wish MLB and the Players Association would use this unexpected down time to sort out all impending issues.  
  • I’d like to hear Vin Scully’s voice right now. 

* * *

  • Abrupt segue, with Joe Biden v. Bernie Sanders still fresh in my mind. You could treat presidential debates at the start of a campaign like March Madness: Seed the candidates at the start of primary season and have them debate two at a time, rather 10 on a stage at the outset.
  • Actually, make it like the College World Series and have it be double-elimination.
  • And no audiences, because this isn’t really supposed to be March Madness. 
  • (Those are non-partisan thoughts, so I don’t mind printing them here. I save my other political thoughts for Twitter.)  

* * *

  • We had dinner plans with my parents Sunday, and all of us felt compelled to cancel them. They are 82 and 84 years old. I know it was the prudent thing to do, but it also feels existentially risky to give up time with them. 
  • We are living in a movie. It’s incredible that self-quarantine is our reality now. 
  • We will do our best to stay connected with the outside world, but it’s so hard to compensate for what we lose by giving up chance encounters and chance moments. I feel bad for me and my wife, and worse for my kids. 
  • We had to postpone Youngest Master Weisman’s virtual-reality birthday party, which the Irony Committee is looking into.  
  • I’m sad that this is happening during my daughter’s senior year of high school, but glad it isn’t happening during her freshman year of college. 
  • This is only the first inning of this experience. Speaking for myself, it’s the third inning of a challenging 2020.  
  • Please don’t let there be an earthquake right now. 
  • With commutes eliminated, if there’s a perverse benefit to the coronavirus crisis, it’s that many of us will spend less time driving and more time sleeping. Well, except for me this morning.