There’s a certain magic about the start of the baseball season.

It’s fitting that the game returns in the spring, the season of beginnings. It’s a time for optimism, as fans in cities across the United States and Canada are certain that their team will get to the playoffs, and even the World Series.

Baseball is a game that brings people together. It offers the chance for a family to enjoy a day at the ballpark. It provides the opportunity for friends and neighbors to spend a warm summer evening on the deck, enjoying each other’s company while listening to or watching a game.

More than any other sport, baseball cherishes its traditions and history. A visit to PNC Park offers parents and grandparents the chance to share their memories of watching Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell, helping to bring to life the men represented by the statues in front of the stadium. While the two rank among the best to have ever played the game, they also stand among the greatest men who have ever been involved in the sport, players who were willing to give of their time and money to help others.

It’s a chance to show pride in knowing that the best second baseman in the history of the game, Bill Mazeroski, calls our area home and had the privilege of playing for the Pirates, delivering the sport’s greatest hit, the home run that lifted Pittsburgh to a win over the New York Yankees and the 1960 World Series title.

Like everything around us, baseball has evolved — the designated hitter, once considered as little more than a novelty, is now an integral part of the game. Pitchers now must contend with a clock that limits the amount of time they can spend between deliveries and a rule that limits how many times they can throw to a base to keep a runner close.

Fans who once were limited to a menu of hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jack can now experience a wide variety of gourmet foods, a roster that this year will include a chipped ham empanada, a fried almond torte and Polish Cannonballs — a treat made of egg noodles, kielbasa, cabbage, bacon, cheddar cheese and herb cream dip — and the finest in local and regional craft beers and spirits.

This year’s edition of the Pirates will open their season at 4:10 p.m. Thursday when they visit Miami. Cleveland and Cincinnati also will open their seasons at 4:10 p.m. Thursday — the Guardians in Kansas City and the Reds at home against San Francisco.

Pittsburgh opens its home schedule at 4:12 p.m. April 4 when the Yankees come to PNC Park. Cleveland’s home schedule opens at 4:10 p.m. April 8 against the White Sox.

Fans have been waiting for these opening games since just before midnight on Oct. 30, when the Dodgers defeated the Yankees 7-6 to win the World Series in five games. They have followed spring training games on television, the radio and the Internet and pored over statistics, studying each player while preparing for this week.

We face plenty of questions in our daily lives. We worry, for example, about the price of eggs and gasoline, and wonder how events a half a world away in Ukraine and the Middle East will touch us

Those concerns aside, remember that it’s spring, a time to look ahead at what might be. It’s a time when fans are sure that anything is possible.

Baseball’s back.

We hope you will sit back and enjoy the games.