The Starting Lineup: 01/28/2026

Welcome back to The Starting Lineup.  If you think you may have missed a handful of blog entries after my promise to deliver a daily blog, you didn’t miss any and we’re just ignoring the gap between blog #1 on Friday and today’s second entry coming on Wednesday.  Maybe this will be one of those things where I call it a daily blog, but the joke everyone is in on is that the blog is, in fact, not daily.  Funny stuff.

Today, I sit down around 7:45 AM central time, otherwise known as America’s time zone, by the way, with not much intent or plan as for what I am going to write about.  So, the first thing I am going to do is thank each of you for your support of The Diamond Report.  Even if you haven’t spent $20 (or $50 for a hard copy), your support in reading any of the words I type means the most to me.  In 2016, I founded CWS247 with not only a poor name, but also no direction.  I simply wanted an outlet to learn more about college baseball.  

I became a college baseball fan in 2006, attending my first college baseball game on the grandest stage.  Pat Casey yearned for the first championship in Oregon State program history, earning it that night against North Carolina.  My specific memories of that game have faded, though the bright lights of the national title game kept me coming back for more.  I have attended every single national championship game since.  

20 years later, it’s a whirlwind to see the support you’ve given a product I was a part of after never asking for a dollar of yours before.  We love what we do at College Baseball Central.  But I promise, we would be on the streets if it weren’t for our day jobs.  

Sometimes I wonder where I would be if my parents had lived anywhere other than Omaha, Nebraska.  I don’t make myself out to be too important in anyone’s life other than my own, though the reality is I am probably not typing these words right now if my mom hadn’t retired from her career in 2009.  Her company was moving to Maine and for a second, it sounded like we were too.  Then we weren’t.  I like lobster, but I like the combination of steak and college baseball a lot more.  

Anyway, thank you again.  Your support has been far more than what I expected and I hope The Diamond Report has met your expectations.  It’s only going to get better in 2027 and beyond, starting with deeper coverage of the Sun Belt and other mid-major conferences.  Frankly, the powers that be are already discussing a full team breakdown on a two-page spread for every single team in the country.  For those keeping score, that would net about 650 total pages, compared to the 208 we have for you in 2026.  

A lot of work for people with day jobs and lives.  But we wouldn’t trade it for the world (unless you offer us a livable wage to do this full time, then we will absolutely trade it).  

I think this will suffice for day two of my daily blog series.  See you next time for day 3, no matter when that is.