The Meaning of September First

Well, August was sure ugly for the Twins and their fans. Time to turn the calendar and hope for better. Unfortunately, it's too late for "better" to make any difference regarding importance. However, I'll still be watching the games, and winning is simply more fun than losing. So, let's do that.

So, now that it's September 1, things are a little different.

Roster Expansion:

As of September 1st, MLB active rosters may expand from 25 men to up to 40 men. If a guy is on a team's 40-man roster, he may be called up to the big league team to get some experience. This is a great opportunity for the minor leaguers to show off their stuff and for the big league starters to get extra days of rest.

I can't imagine that the Twins have many guys they want to bring up; most of the guys they'd want to see are already up. The Twins have called up P Jim Hoey for Friday's game. The Red Wings' season ends on Monday, so maybe some others get called up too.

Trades:

The deadline to trade for players and still include them on the playoff roster was at midnight (ET) August 31. That means, come September 1st, trades become very, very unlikely. There's no point for teams to add guys now since their roster is expanding anyway. So the guys still wearing Twins uniforms now will continue to until the end of the season.

The End of the DL:

The whole point of the Disabled List is to take men off the 25-man roster so that someone else can take that spot. Since the rosters are expanded to the full capacity, there's no need to make roster moves. So, now, if a guy gets hurt, he'll just sit on the bench.

So, that also means no more DL paper dolls. However, there are six guys from the opening day roster who didn't land on the DL or get sent down to the minors. Just so they don't feel bad, I'll make them each a paper doll  sometime during the month of September.

September Food For Wins:

The last two years, I've donated food items to my local food shelf based on the number of Twins wins from September 1st until they clean out their lockers for the year. I do this because, come September, the season is a grind and it's fun to have a little incentive to keep watching the games.

I'll do the same this year, but this time I'll donate cash. Food shelves can buy more items for the money than I can. Besides, I'm sick of listening to my husband complain about all the bags of food that take up our dining room.

So, for every Twins win from now until the end of the season, I will donate $2. However, since I'm not completely confident that the Twins will run the gamut of winning this month, I pledge the minimum amount will be $25.

If you have the means or ability, I encourage you to find a way to improve your community, your state, your country, or your planet in some way during this month. If you're short on cash, consider donating your time -- Feed My Starving Children is a terrific organization. If that doesn't interest you, think about donating blood. Heck, even conserving energy, using less plastic, or cutting back on water consumption helps.

We're lucky to be able to spend our leisure time watching and caring about the great game of baseball. We could be an awesome power for good.