What a difference a year makes.
Twelve months ago, I nearly scrapped my annual spring training pilgrimage to Goodyear. As I wrote at the time, I was underwhelmed by the Reds’ moves during the 2017-18 offseason and questioned the wisdom of spending a dozen hours driving to and from Arizona to see games that didn’t count, especially when the ongoing rebuild had no end in sight.
This year, however, I couldn’t wait to return to Arizona to witness the new-look Reds in person. Living in Los Angeles, I’ve seen Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp play numerous times – I still shudder at the memory of Puig hitting a walk-off home run in extra innings to beat the Reds during his rookie season – but I was still extremely excited at the prospect of seeing the pair dressed in red (and green, as it turned out).