Look, I don't blame anyone in Chicago for getting excited about baseball this week. It's been 20 degrees every day since early October. We're getting our third ice storm of the year this week.
If you want to put all your eggs into the baseball-starts-this-week basket, go right ahead. There are probably worse ways to spend winter's last leg than living vicariously through 15-pitch outings and ranking non-roster invitees based on their baserunning skills.
With that said, any professional sports pre-season is objectively torture; the Cubs' first home game is still eight weeks away. Pitchers and catchers report on Wednesday, and the first game isn't for 10 days *after* that.