GUARD UP!

    As you may know if you have caught up on any of my older blogs, I work for the Cleveland Guardians Major League Baseball (MLB) Team. While it may sound like an amazing job, but during the season I only work in the Kids Clubhouse (KCH). Up in KCH, there are different activities for kids to enjoy when they start to fuss during the game from sitting still. However, during the postseason, the KCH closes down completely. We remove all of the furniture and playhouses so we can transform it for postseason. During this time is when media coverage can set up base in our clubhouse and stream the game. You may think, "Well Hallie that sucks because now you're out of a job during postseason." Luckily for me, rather than leaving the KCH workers unemployed, we have the opportunity to continue working in the ballpark in a different department.

    I was very nervous about getting put into a different department because I really only know what's happening on the Family Deck. However, since none of the departments were lacking employees this past weekend, I was able to be an usher on the Family Deck. As an usher, I'm assigned a section and station myself at the top in case someone has a question about their seats and to monitor my section to make sure everyone is abiding by the ballpark rules. This past weekend, the Guardians played for the Wild Card spot in the playoffs. In order to advance, the Guardians had to beat the Rays twice. To start my Friday morning, Game One was set to start at noon, meaning employees had to arrive by nine to brief and get our sections ready. While it was a chilly day, the Guardians battled it out and came out on top for Game One! With this win, the Guardians set a record for the fastest postseason game played in MLB history with being slightly over two hours. I felt good after the game was over. My co-workers and I ended up going out after we got off to a local bar downtown. The bar was packed with people from the game celebrating, and it was an overall great environment to be in. Fast forward to the next day, I was hoping for another fast game, I was sadly mistaken. With a larger crowd and colder weather, neither team seemed to pull themselves together. The game dragged on and on after each scoreless inning, leading all the way into the 15th inning. At this point, I was a Popsicle. Oscar Gonzalez was up to bat, and he knew we wanted the game over because he hit an absolute bomb of a home run to end the game! We once again went out as co-workers to celebrate our advancement in the postseason and the environment was even better. 

    The Guardians now face the Yankees to advance to the next round. This round will be a little tougher for us, as we play our first few games in New York rather than at home. Tuesday night, the Guardians fell in the first game against the Yankees, but will play again Thursday. All we need is one win in New York and two at home to move on. I'm not sure if I will be able to work anymore postseason games yet, but I really enjoyed the opportunity I had working the ones I did. Postseason baseball is a whole different environment than regular season and I'm so happy I got to be a part of it!

GUARD UP!

Hallie