Evan watched anyway.
The first run came in the top of the first, on a blooper that had no business dropping, the kind of weak hit that should have hung up long enough to die in a glove. Instead, it fell in no-man’s land, sending Chicago’s runner chugging home like fate had decided to reward mediocrity. The morning shows would call it scrappy or resilient or gritty, buzzwords people loved to use to make it look like more than luck. Evan knew better. It wasn’t heart or hustle. It was just ugly baseball.
Boston’s answering run was something else though. Clean. Merciless. A double, lasered into the left-field corner, the sound off the bat sharp enough to sting even through the television. The outfielder scrambled, barehanded the ball, and fired it to the second baseman, but he was late by half a step. Too late to hold the runner at third, egged on by the windmilling arm of the third-base coach. The guy slid into home, the momentum propelling him back to his feet, and he jogged toward the dugout without looking back. Game tied.
Twice in the opening innings, Evan watched CJ cut off singles that wanted to be doubles. The analysts on TV described his hustle with reverent voices, drawing arrows over paused video as they tried to explain how a guy running in a straight line was something mystical. Evan saw it for what it was: CJ doing what CJ had always done, turning routine into spectacle and making the game tilt in his favor. The crowd roared like it was magic, and Evan rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. Of course they ate it up. CJ had always had that effect on people.
His phone buzzed on the coffee table. Then again. And again. Evan sighed and dragged it closer to peer at it. The team group chat was lighting up like Christmas.
Rizzo
HOLY SHIT HARTMAN
Lugo
Dude, that last catch was nasty
Tank
Blazers should extend him forever, guy’s a machine
Rizzo
Word is he’s on the trading block tho
Evan snorted and shoved a breadstick into his mouth. That didn’t take long. Rumors about trades were the only thing that traveled faster than gossip in the league.
Lugo
Cudas should make a move
Mac
Like we’ve got that budget, lmao
Rizzo
Imagine him in our outfield tho
Rizzo
Dream
Evan typed, then deleted, then typed again before settling on a text.
Evan
Don’t believe everything you read.
Three dots appeared, disappeared, then came back.
Rizzo
Bro, it’s everywhere. Blazers can’t afford to keep him AND their pitching. They’re shopping him and supposedly we’re interested.
Evan set the phone face down as his stomach tightened in a familiar, unwelcome way. He didn’t care about the rumors. Didn’t want to care. CJ Hartman’s career trajectory had nothing to do with him. That’s what he told himself, anyway.
The truth sat heavier on his chest.
