Popular way to refer to occasion:
Pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Not popular way to refer to occasion:
Pitchers and catchers have entire bodies physically examined.

Very unpopular way to refer to occasion:
Mariners insist that Felix Hernandez sees doctor.

I don't intend to bury Matthew's post below, nor do I feel like a whole lot has to be said about today anyway. Mariners pitchers and catchers are in Arizona, and today they got looked at. All of them were presumably given a clean bill of health. Maybe one of them was given a clean bill of health and has tuberculosis. Doctors don't know everything. Soon, pitchers will pitch to catchers. Some other position players are already in Arizona, too, and they've been doing position player-y things.

I don't think the day that pitchers and catchers report to spring training ought to be a holiday, like so many people say they do. I'm guessing those people are only half-serious. The day that pitchers and catchers report does not mark the return of baseball. There will not be baseball tomorrow. There will not be baseball in a week. There will not be baseball, the way we want there to be baseball.

But I think what this day stands for is the return to thinking about baseball in terms of the day-to-day. It's still the offseason, in that it isn't the season, but we're not thinking about big roster moves. We're not thinking about trade options, or how the Mariners might look in 2014, or anything like that. It's time we start thinking about the day's events, and what they might mean for tomorrow's events.

Welcome back to the routine. It's probably going to take you a little while to adjust. It's kind of spring training for everybody.

Does the headline need any further commentary? Greg Johns provides some and some additional details about how the Mariners will handle their early winter training in preparation for the season opening trip to Japan. Greg also writes about Mike Carp spearheading a tribute to Greg Halman. The Mariners will unfortunately spend a second straight season with a death in the family at its forefront and based on how 2011 went (tribute-wise, not player performance-wise), I believe the organization will handle it with suitable grace.

But I don't want to get too bogged down in that just this moment. Pitchers and catchers reported. Baseball is almost back and regardless of how sucky the team was and might be, baseball is always better than no baseball. By the way, among the players checking in today was Jesus Montero.