The State of Our Season

Beautiful sunset in Springdale, AR this week

It is CRAZY that the season is just a few short weeks from ending! It feels like it has flown by so much faster than last year. We have a guaranteed spot in the playoffs because we won the first half, so we shall see how far into post-season play we will go.

I figure this would be a good time to share a little about how our season has been in general!

Hannah-
This season has been GREAT for me. I don't think I have shared much about it here, but last fall I started working as a personal/administrative assistant for two ladies who are high ranking Beachbody coaches. This has been a huge blessing for several reasons! First, it is beyond amazing to have a job where I can work remotely and be able to make money while traveling with Cy full time. Second, it is so nice to have my own tasks and responsibilities to focus on outside of baseball. I have my work, Cy has his work, we get to focus on our own things instead of all baseball on both of our brains constantly. Third, the nature of my work is SO social and community focused, which is so great for my social butterfly self! (If you're a baseball girl interested in a position like mine, shoot me an email!) Plus, I get to use a lot of practical skills and knowledge from my degree, which is great ;)

We are living with an INCREDIBLE host family (I seriously am amazed by how many truly wonderful people we have been able to live with in our past 2 seasons!!) and really they make baseball life doable. My host parents and I kind of accidentally started working out a couple months ago and now have a nightly group workout routine! It is really fun to do together, and I feel so great getting consistent exercise in- something I honestly have never really enjoyed haha.

I have been traveling a LOT. I've gone on a good majority of Cy's road trips, plus a trip home to Alaska for my best friends wedding at the beginning of August! It has been super fun but starting to wear me out, I am ready for the offseason to just be in one place for awhile!


Cy-
"This season has been good! There have definitely been some frustrating moments pitching wise because I feel like I haven't been quite as consistent as I was last season or as I am capable of. But all in all I am happy with my season. We have won a lot of games, which is always fun. I really enjoy the staff and the organization as a whole.

Our host family is awesome, makes life a lot easier. We have eaten a lot of great food and seen some fun new places this season- no complaints! It is really great to have Hannah with me full time, not everyone is able to make that work during season and I am thankful we can because it makes all the difference in the world.

This offseason is going to be good. I am excited to graduate in December and be DONE with school. Looking forward to doing manly stuff like hunting and chopping trees/firewood. Plus, getting to spend time with family and reset my mind and body to get ready for next season."


Us-
We are rapidly approaching our 2 year anniversary, which is crazy. Sometimes it feels like it was just last week that we got engaged, but at the same time it feels like we have been together forever. It's cliche but really, life is great when your spouse is your best friend! We are making lots of memories and enjoying the slightly crazy life that baseball gives us. Always an adventure ;)


So for our offseason, barring any crazy changes that baseball might bring, we are headed to ALASKA!! Yes, for real! All of the pieces just fell into place for us to spend most of our offseason up there near my family. We are really excited! I haven't been home for longer than like 3 weeks at a time since I left for college, so it will be great to spend extended quality time with our loved ones there.

Here's to the last few weeks of this season!!

xo, Hannah

So, Can You Get Me Tickets?? // Baseball FAQs

I thought it would be fun to start a new series that addresses common questions about various aspects of baseball life. There are a few things that often come up as topics of conversation amongst the baseball world, and one of them is the assumption that players get unlimited free tickets to games. The reality is... Ehhh, sort of.

In the minor leagues, players are allotted 4 spots on the "player pass list" per game. So each day when Cy gets to the field, he has to go to put my name on the pass list before it gets taken to the ticketing office a little before game time. Then when I get to the game, I go to the will-call window and they have my tickets waiting. It is super simple and easy. When we have family/friends in town, we gladly can get y'all tickets this way! Home teams are usually more flexible if Cy needs to leave more than 4 tickets, but when we are on the road if we have more than 4 people coming, he usually can ask another player to use their pass list spots if they aren't using them that day. So if we are in town and you want to come see Cy play (or just come sit and chat with me... duh!) we are so so happy to get you tickets!

However, it is a completely different story when you get to the big leagues. Similarly to how it works for us in MiLB, big league players are allotted a small amount of specific seats in the designated "family"(players wives, kids, etc.) section (I believe 4) and a few in the "friends" section (I believe 2, I've heard these seats are generally kinda crappy). That is where the similarities end. First, it isn't so simple as writing names on the list, the player has to go through the team to coordinate the tickets. Second.... The tickets that players request to have are NOT free for them. If, for example, a player requests to have tickets left for his wife and kids, the value of those tickets are then considered "income" which the player is then taxed on out of his paycheck. Generally the player ends up paying around 40% of face value. A friend in Houston said that for them, it ends up about $30 per ticket. So by the end of the season, this can really add up!! I've heard stories of people not knowing this and then having to pay several THOUSANDS of of dollars in taxes for the tickets they gave out during the season. Crazy.

So moral of the story, big league players often don't/can't coordinate tickets for more than immediate family. Many people say that it is usually a lot better to just buy your own tickets on stub hub or whatever, because you can find good seats for much less than it costs the players to get them. Minor league games, however, are free and easy for us to get you to-  so come see us! ;)

Thanks for reading!
xo, Hannah


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