My Dream Game

One evening I was reading my favorite baseball book. I had my flashlight shining on the words as I hid under the covers.

Suddenly, I was playing under the lights at the MLB All-Star Game and I was the right fielder. My teammates were Mike Trout, Chris Davis, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jason Kipnis, Buster Posey, Mark Trumbo, Max Sherzer, and Michael Brantley. It was the bottom of the ninth inning, and the score was all tied up at 6–6.

It was my turn at bat, and the bases were loaded with two outs. The pitch count was three balls and two strikes. This was it, all or nothing. Everything went quiet as the pitcher, Felix Hernandez, went into a fast windup. The ball hurtled toward me at 103 miles per hour, but to me it seemed to be floating slowly through the air. As I gripped the bat, it felt like heaven. The ball was like a wrapped Christmas present for me to open as it came right over the plate. When my bat swung to make contact, the loud crack sounded like a piñata breaking into a million pieces.

I watched with excitement as the ball sailed up in the sky. I was worried it would not make it out of the stadium, and then the wind blew the ball up and out of the ballpark. I knew at that moment I had hit a walk off grand slam to win the game.

My heart pounded as I ran the bases, and the crowd went wild. My teammates ran out to give me a high-five as I crossed home plate. The whole team was screaming, hugging me, and jumping up and down.

Fireworks crackled in the sky behind me. Then my teammates put me up on their shoulders, and I was announced as the most valuable player of the game. Does life get any better than this?

Just then, I heard a voice calling from the dugout, “Alex, get up. It’s time for school.”