Turn of the calendar brings optimism in sports

With the temperature in the high 70s on Sunday, I enjoyed my afternoon outside, going for a walk. There were plenty of people outdoors and after the up-and-down end of winter and start of spring that we’ve had, it was a good reminder of how much nice weather can change the attitude of people.

Along with the change of attitude in people, this time of year can also be a change of attitude for sports teams. Spring is here and there is optimism from every team.

The Brookings baseball team, as of Tuesday, has played five games and have a record of 2-2-1. The Bobcats had their opening weekend of the season out West canceled at the beginning of April and then lost their season-opener on April 6 to Brandon Valley 17-6 in five innings.

Brookings then bounced back with a doubleheader sweep of Tea on April 8. The Bobcats played in Sioux Falls this weekend and lost 9-3 to Fargo South on Saturday and then tied 8-8 with Red River (Grand Forks, N.D.) later in the day.

The optimism for the Bobcats will continue as long as they do not go through a losing streak.

The Brookings softball team has played two games so far this season and split them. The Bobcats opened the year with a 7-4 win over Yankton on March 30 and then lost 11-10 to Brandon Valley on Friday. Each result should spring some optimism as Brandon Valley has yet to lose this year.

Turning to college sports, the SDSU football team will conclude its spring practices on Saturday with the annual spring game. The game will be played at 10:30 a.m. at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex.

The Jackrabbits are coming off of their worst season since 2019, but there is a lot of optimism going into the 2026 season.

Star quarterback Chase Mason is back for his fifth year at SDSU and his second season as a starter. He missed the last six games of the regular season in 2025. The Jacks didn’t lose any major contributors to the transfer portal and seem to be poised to be one of the top contenders in the FCS.

In baseball, the Jackrabbits have won their past three Summit League series after being swept in the conference opener against Oral Roberts. SDSU is now 6-6 in the conference and is one game back of Omaha, who is in second place.

ORU will come to Brookings this upcoming weekend and the Golden Eagles are 11-1 in the Summit League. In the conference-opening series the Jacks lost games one and two 4-3 and 3-1, respectively, before losing game three 12-2 in eight innings. If SDSU is able to take one or two games from the Golden Eagles this weekend, that will add some major confidence for the Jacks as they head into the final month of the regular season.

I’ll wrap up the college part of this with Brooklyn Meyer. Monday night was the WNBA Draft and Meyer was not one of the 45 picks. That certainly put a damper on her WNBA dream, but it is not completely dead. She’ll now look to sign with a team for training camp and try to make the roster that way.

However, according to a study by the WNBA Report in 2022, only 6.5% of WNBA players were undrafted. The WNBA did add two expansion teams this season, but there are still only 12 players on each roster. Also, the two expansion teams took 11 players each in their expansion draft and each had three draft picks on Monday night.

Odds are low that Meyer will make a WNBA team, but her professional career can certainly continue overseas. I would assume she will be highly sought after if she decides to go that route and will be able to make a good chunk of change doing so.

As the calender turns, professional basketball and hockey are wrapping things up and baseball is nearly a month into its season.

I’ll start with baseball. The Minnesota Twins finished 70-92 and had the fourth-worst record in the MLB last season. This was two years after winning their first playoff series since 2002. Ownership decided to cut payroll after that season instead of improving what was a contending team.

That left a sour taste in the mouth of the fans and optimism for this team was at an all-time low heading into this year. But the Twins have started the season strong.

They beat the Red Sox 13-4 on Monday night to improve to 10-7 on the season and are tied for first place in the American League. The 17 games are only a little over 10% of the baseball season, but the start has given the Twins fans hope, when it looked like there would be none of that coming into the year.

In basketball and hockey, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Wild will each play in the playoffs for the third-straight season.

The Wild will begin their playoff push this weekend and because the NHL playoff format prioritizes division rivalries over giving the top teams in the league an advantage, they will have a very tough first-round opponent.

The Wild will play the Stars and the two teams are third and second, respectively, in the western conference in points, but only one will advance past the first round

The Wild are looking to win their first playoff series since 2015 and they’ve lost in six games the past three times they’ve been in the playoffs. One of those was to the Stars in 2023.

You would think that would lead to fans not being optimistic about the Wild’s chances of going on a run, but losing streaks have to end at some point. Also, the addition of Olympic defenseman Quinn Hughes, along with players like Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber, give the Wild their best chance in years to move onto the second round.

The Timberwolves are looking to advance to the second round for the third time in as many years. They are coming off of back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances and the next step is winning a championship, which is something a male professional team has not done in Minnesota since 1991 when the Twins won the World Series.

The Timberwolves will be playing the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs for the third time in the past four season and the two teams split the first two series. The Wolves won in seven games in 2024 and the Nuggets won in five games in 2023 en route to winning the title.

The Wolves have had an up-and-down season, so optimism is not particularly high. But vibes weren’t high heading into the playoffs the past two seasons, so that gives Minnesota fans some hope before the first game of the series tips off on Saturday. Superstar Anthony Edwards and the rest of the Wolves have been playoff risers the past two seasons and that should give them a chance against the mighty Nuggets.

It’s a fun time of the year in the sports world and when you pair that with the change in the weather, it can make fans and teams feel more optimistic.