Who says baseball can’t be exciting?

Opening Day for the Atlanta Braves was a reminder of the emotion and excitement that comes along with the game of baseball.

The entire game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals felt like game 7 of the World Series. In case you need a game recap, my colleague Alan Carpenter wrote a delicious one here.

Long story short – Our Atlanta Braves lost an incredible game because of defensive blunders. I don’t really want to talk about it.

Baseball fans are more emotional than people from outside our perfect circle might think we are. And BRAVES baseball fans are even more emotional than the normal baseball fan… at least the Braves fans I know. Perhaps some of this sickness is due to the fact that we have incredibly short memories. One minute we hate Julio Teheran because he gives up home runs, and then we love Julio Teheran because he strikes out the side.

Going into yesterday’s contest there were lots of feelings for us. It was the last Opening Day at our beloved Ted, Frenchy was back, and there’s been this real strange excitement in the air about our newly rebuilt team. Said strange excitement has directly followed anger and resentment after many of our favorite players have been traded over the past couple of years. We’ve been through a lot in Braves Country as of late. So, going into yesterday, I think it’s safe to say, were emotional. And, we were also emotional just because it was Opening Day, the greatest day of the year. Including Christmas.

As my girlfriend was researching Whole30 recipes, I was completely losing my mind because Jeff Francoeur had a chance to score the winning run in the first game of the season in his first game back in an Atlanta Braves uniform. I couldn’t have written it any better. My blood pressure was going through the roof and Twitter exploded. And then, he scored the winning run. Well, what was supposed to be the winning run.

And, the reason Jeff Francouer’s involvement in this situation was so special and predestined from the baseball gods was twofold: Historically Jeff Francoeur strikes out a lot (while smiling) and doesn’t draw walks, and it’s his first game back as a Brave. Jeff Francoeur was supposed to score the winning run of this ballgame. He just was.

But the good Lord didn’t plan it that way, which begs the age-old question – Does God really hate the Braves? See, look at me. I’m still overly emotional and it’s literally the first game of the year.

The entire first game of the 2016 Atlanta Braves campaign was a whirlwind of emotion. As I mentioned before, us Braves fans were excited and nostalgic because it was the last Opening Day at the Ted and Frenchy is back. We were happy. We were excited. Even though we knew that on paper we have no chance this year, as the starting lineup was announced, we began to dream of splendor. As the guys were being introduced and they were jogging out of the dugout, we said to ourselves “You know… we actually look pretty good. Some veteran bats. Some .300 hitting guys. Like… we might actually be good.”

In the end, after such an exciting game, pitching and defense lost us the game in extra innings. It was heartbreaking. It didn’t feel like we just lost the first game of the season. It felt like we lost a pivotal game in October. I hope my dear girlfriend is prepared for the remaining 161 games.

And people say baseball isn’t exciting.