Waiting for Baseball, Designing Something Better
Back in 2020, like a lot of people, I was waiting.
Waiting for the season to start. Waiting for some version of normal. Waiting for something to look forward to.
That spring, Major League Baseball had already released the schedule. And then everything paused. Games disappeared. Timelines blurred. And suddenly, even something as simple as opening day felt uncertain.
I was sitting in a makeshift home office in Idaho, looking for something tangible to focus on. Something small, but steady.
So I did what designers tend to do—I started making something.
The printable schedules floating around had the basics. Dates, matchups, times. But they felt purely functional, at a time when people were craving anything but. Our environments mattered more than ever. We were all quietly redesigning our spaces, paying attention to what we put on our walls, what sat on our desks, what felt considered.
The schedule didn’t meet that moment.
So I made the one I wanted.
Minimal. Intentional. Something you’d actually want to print and live with for an entire season. I added space to track what mattered to me: starting pitchers, wins and losses, the rhythm of a long season. And because details matter, I set every game time to Mountain Time, where I was living at the time. No conversions, no friction.
Just a simple system that worked.
What started as a personal project turned into something I returned to season after season. A small ritual. A way to stay connected to the game, even when everything else felt uncertain.
Now, a few seasons (and a few World Series wins) later, the design still holds up. Not because it’s flashy, but because it solved the right problem.
Good design isn’t just about how something looks. It’s about understanding the moment it lives in—and building something that fits naturally into it.
Sometimes that’s a campaign. Sometimes it’s a brand system.
And sometimes, it’s just a better way to follow a baseball season.
I’m hoping to carve out some time to update the schedule for this year, print it the way it was originally intended (16x20, high-quality stock), and track another season.
For all those who celebrate, Happy Opening Day.
Ready for the CTA?
If this got you thinking, let’s keep the conversation going. I share more on design thinking over on LinkedIn, and I’d love to hear your perspective. Follow me there and let’s swap ideas on what’s really driving revenue.