Happy Thanksgiving! As you prepare for a day full of football and food (or maybe working all day if your job requires it), here is part two of Smarty and Jared’s celebration of Thanksgiving!
Check out part
one if you missed it.
Making a baseball lineup out of Thanksgiving food
The Thanksgiving table is often filled with a large variety of delicious food, and like most people do at some point in their lives, I began to wonder how a baseball lineup consisting of those foods would look. Here’s my take on the ideal baseball lineup of Thanksgiving foods:
1 – Turkey soup
One year, I asked my grandmother why we no longer started out the Thanksgiving meal with a bowl of soup. We never actually did this, but if there’s one thing I enjoy doing, it’s committing to a bit which only I may find amusing. (I’m like a living version of “Too Many Cooks”) So every year after that, I would ask her, “Where’s the soup?”
Eventually, I began to actually myself a bowl of soup for lunch. And of course, I had to have a cold beer with it, because nothing goes better with hot soup than cold beer! It’s actually a pretty solid start to the day’s food consumption, so I’ll stick the turkey soup at the top of my imaginary lineup.
2- Mac and cheese
It used to be that you’d put a light hitting slap hitter second in the lineup, but these days, you want one of your best hitters. And while the mac and cheese is a relatively new addition to my family’s Thanksgiving table, it has been an excellent one and is definitely one of the best parts of the meal now.
3 – Turkey
While some teams have different ideas about lineup construction, you still often get the “franchise” hitter batting third. (Just ask Bryce Harper.) And when it comes down to it, the turkey is still the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal.
4 – Lasagna
There’s been some debate with my family about whether or not lasagna should be a part of the Thanksgiving meal. But if you want to protect your franchise hitter in the lineup, you shouldn’t go with an Alec Bohm-type food that doesn’t pack much punch. You need something substantial, and lasagna delivers.
5 – Dinner rolls
Otherwise known as 75% of what kids eat at Thanksgiving. If the big hitters in the lineup haven’t left you feeling full enough, just toss down a couple of rolls, and you’ll leave feeling fulfilled.
6 – Green beans
Your meal can’t be all protein and carbs. You need to mix in some vegetables, and of the available options, I think green beans are the best.
7 – Cole slaw
My grandmother used to make the world’s best cole slaw, and in days past, this would have been in the middle of the order. But since my grandmother’s passing, others have tried to replicate the recipe, but it’s just not the same. It’s become the J.T. Realmuto of the dinner table. It’s still good overall, but you don’t want it in the heart of the lineup anymore.
8 – Cranberry sauce
Just like teams often have defense-first players hitting eighth, the cranberry sauce is in the lineup because it’s the token fruit of the meal. I don’t care for it, but as long as it isn’t a total zero, it can hang out in the eight spot.
9 – Pumpkin cheesecake
It used to be that you’d stick the pitcher or weakest hitter ninth in the lineup. But modern lineups generally have more power at the top, so you don’t want a complete zero batting ninth. If you’re looking for a good dessert, pumpkin cheesecake easily clears pumpkin, apple, or sweet potato pie. It will leave a good taste in your mouth and sets you up to turn the lineup over. (Aka, hit the leftovers later in the night.)
You are not alone
I realize the holidays aren’t a happy time for everyone, and Thanksgiving can leave some people feeling sad or depressed. Please understand that if you are feeling down today, you’re not alone and there are resources that can help you.
Here are some tips on how you can work through any holiday-related depression, and if you feel like you need to talk to someone, the Crisis Text Line is around to help.
What we’re thankful for
I asked some of the writers at TGP what they’re thankful for about our favorite baseball team.
David
What I’m thankful for is that the Phillies are 1) regularly competitive and 2) spending money to stay that way. I’m definitely old enough to remember long eras where neither was true, and it was miserable.
Sure, I’d like another World Series title, and I’m frustrated that they haven’t gotten one with this core. But, watching winning baseball year in, year out is something we can’t take for granted, especially with this franchise. So, I’m deeply thankful the team is a winning team right now. It makes the 162+ game season so much more enjoyable.
Joe
I’m thankful for the Phillies tenures of Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto. It isn’t official that either will actually be gone, but it’s a possibility, so what better time to reflect on their impact.
Schwarber and Realmuto are both huge reasons why this era of Phillies baseball has been successful. Whether it was a 588 foot home run in the NLCS, a four home run game, an inside the park home run in the NLDS, a game winning home run in Game 1 of the World Series, or gunning down multiple base stealers, both Schwarber and Realmuto made their marks in Phillies history and helped bring baseball back to Philadelphia after a decade of irrelevance.
Smarty
The Phillies have notoriously had their issues in developing hitters in recent years, but it feels like its somewhat slipped under the radar that one of their homegrown pitchers has slowly developed into one of the best pitchers in baseball. When you share a rotation with more heralded starters like Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, you can get overlooked at times, but Cristopher Sanchez took the next step forward this season and became one of the best pitchers in baseball.
So, I’m thankful that even without Wheeler to start the season, the Phillies will still have an ace on the mound for them come Opening Day.
Anthony
There are 2 specific things I want to highlight this Thanksgiving:
1. I appreciate the team we have on this site and how I got the chance to fit in with everyone. I think this was my best season with the The Good Phight and I think that’s partially because of how good the support is around me.
2. On a Phillies specific note: I’m thankful for getting the chance to watch a team in the middle of their run. It just doesn’t come around often (especially for this franchise).
The Toronto Maple Leafs have the third most wins and points over the last nine years but now are in last place in the Eastern Conference. Enjoy the success while it lasts with this Phillies team.
Ethan
I am thankful for the Phillies being good. If you lived through the 1984-2003 era of the team, you know what a slog the 162-game schedule can be when the team is bad. No hope of playoffs, no hope of talent, just – no hope.
With the Phillies actually being good, we can at least discuss the playoffs with regularity, a thought unheard of by a generation. Being caught up in the “the season is a failure without a trophy” mindset has rotted many a brain of what baseball should be – an enjoyable pastime for fans. The Phillies being good has made that a thing again.
From all of us at The Good Phight, please have a happy Thanksgiving!
