In my Sportswriting class last year, I wrote a blog post about Truck Day, mostly because my professor didn’t quite understand the excitement and what its purpose is. I’ve found that most others who aren’t fully submerged in the baseball world don’t have an interest in Truck Day or what it means.

Let me try to explain it in terms most should understand: imagine it’s Christmas Eve. All of the decorations are up, there’s the smell of a pine tree in the air, and you’re helping your parents bring up the wrapped presents from the basement to put under the tree. You get that excited feeling all throughout your body, knowing that tomorrow morning, you can race to the tree and see all of the presents from your family – and the ones that Santa brought, too, while you were fast asleep.

When it comes to Truck Day, the Christmas tree is like the truck: it symbolizes something great is going to happen that will leave you happy for days and excited about your new gifts that you can’t wait to tell everyone else about. The truck carries all of the presents down to Spring Training, which symbolizes the end of winter and the start of an amazing six months of warmer weather and one of the best sounds I’ve ever heard: the crack of a baseball off a wooden bat.

All hands are on deck as the teams pack up and head down to either Florida or Arizona. Today is Truck Day for the Red Sox, and I couldn’t be happier.

Others teams, like the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers, had their own Truck Days yesterday.

I think it’s so cute how the mascots get involved, and with the growth of social media, it’s easier for the teams to interact with fans about this special day and show the behind the scenes action.

Meanwhile, today in Boston, they packed up the truck to head down to Fort Myers, but making a stop first in Pawtucket, of course.

Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report February 18th and hold their first workouts February 19th. The team’s first full-squad workout will take place February 24th, and the Sox’s first spring training games are scheduled for February 29th.

Opening Day (the best day of the year) is April 4th on the road against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.