For the final post in my Opening Week Takeover, I am joining forces with one of my best friends: Kaytlen from Bases Loaded Banter. Follow her and check out her blog and you won't regret it, I promise. Anyways, for this last post, we are doing some fun scenarios where we talk about the expectation of them versus the reality of them. I'm bringing you four negative realities, while Kaytlen will be focusing more on positive realities.

You can find her half of this collab here (some of my favorite scenarios are in that one)!

Before first pitch on this afternoon's home opener, I wanted to share with everyone some of my favorite baseball feelings. This list isn't comprehensive, of course, and I wanted to try to avoid some of the more general feelings - the feeling when the Tigers win, the feeling when our bullpen blows it. Below the cut, you'll find 5 feelings that are, hopefully, understandable and provocative of being at a baseball game (or just watching one on TV) - in no particular order.

The season has begun. Emphatically. The first two games of the Tigers' 2016 campaign took place in Miami, Florida. Sure, there were no fears of being rained out or snowed out but, as all of us fans found out, we had a lot more things to be worried about. Each of these two games featured great starting pitching (on the Detroit side) followed by not-so-great bullpen work (again, mostly on the Detroit side). Read on for more specific details and reactions.

If someone told me that they have never imagined what Hogwarts house random people would be in, I would say they were lying. If I told you that I have never imagined what Hogwarts house random baseball players would be in, I would be lying. Under the cut, I do just that for 8 of MLB's big names.

Do you ever wonder what your favorite players would be reading if they had all the time in the world? Yeah, me too. Under the cut, you will find me picking out what I think 6 of the Detroit Tigers would claim as their favorite book.

This is going to be short and sweet. Lately, I have kind of been neglecting the "balks" side of this blog. The past month has been nothing but spring training and, let's be honest, that can be kind of boring to write about. Now that the regular season is getting ready to start again, I knew that I had to reignite my baseball posts. I had a few ideas bouncing around in my head and, instead of scattering them through the month, I decided to dedicate an entire week here on Books and Balks to baseball. It's the Opening Week Takeover!

Meaningful games start tonight, which is why I am posting this introduction today. I have five other posts going up throughout the following week, some focused on the Detroit Tigers, some dealing with baseball at large. I don't want to reveal what exactly these posts will be, but I think they will be a lot of fun. Additionally, the last post of the takeover will be a collaboration with one of my best friends, Kaytlen, who has her own blog that you can find here. She will be putting up a second collab between the two of us, as well.

If you come for the books, don't fret! There will be two posts that combine my love for fiction with my love for the sport.

Watch out for the first post coming either tomorrow or Tuesday and, finally, let's play ball!

The baseball aspect of this blog is a whole lot of Tigers and, well, that's about it. You, my dear readers, may be surprised to discover that I do, in fact, have favorite players in MLB on teams that are not located in Detroit. Did I just blow all of your minds? The following five are players that I - in no particular order - admire for a variety of different reasons, even if their team may not be my cup of tea.

For some people, the question of "who's your Tiger?" is easily answered. It's Miguel Cabrera. It's Justin Verlander. For me, it isn't that easy. When I'm asked that question, the wheels start spinning. Is it the one player I own a shirsey for? Is it the one who plays the most games? Is it the one who rides the bench most nights, flashing beautiful blue eyes? If I find myself at Comerica Park this summer, who will get the loudest cheer from me? Let's break down the candidates (listed in order from L-R in the above graphic).

With the countdown to Spring Training shrinking by the minute (less than a month, guys!), my hopes and dreams for the Tigers' 2016 season are growing. We have added players, subtracted players. We have pushed 2015 aside and forgotten the pain that it caused us - wait, have we? Either way, it all comes down to this: there are new games to be played. Here is what I hope will happen.

Yeah, yeah, Top 5 Wednesday was created in the book community and probably mostly meant for bookish things but I just can't put up a list of my top 5 fandoms if I don't include non-book-related ones. Sorry 'bout it!

The Top Ten Tuesday and Top Five Wednesday topics this week didn't really catch my eye (or, I'm too tired from work to really put thought into them). Instead, I wanted to do a tag; however, I'm too lazy to go out in search of a tag to do. As a result, I created my own tag that goes along with the theme of this blog: baseball and books.

I tag: literally anyone! If you enjoy baseball and books (or if you just want to do a new tag), you are more than welcome to try this one out.

There is a little over a month left in the regular baseball season. The Tigers aren't making the playoffs. Sometimes, watching them is like pulling teeth. How do we make these remaining games fun? Bingo. Use these as a drinking game (or don't because "Ausmus looks clueless" will result in a blackout) or just as a regular Bingo game. Under the cut, you will find two variations on this card and a brief glossary.

I don't know how to be a casual baseball fan.

I've only been seriously watching baseball since 2013. When I was younger, I know I went to some West Michigan Whitecaps (the Tigers' low-A affiliate) games and, I'm pretty sure I went to see the Tigers very shortly after Comerica Park opened. I remember the baseball Ferris wheel. Other than that, though, I was never really a baseball person - a sports person - in general. Things change. In the 3 seasons that I have been a serious and sophisticated fan (yeah, right), a lot has changed.

Let me back up. I can't talk about life as a fan if you don't know who I am a fan of, right? I live in Michigan so, naturally, my home team is the Detroit Tigers. I've adopted another team as my own, as well: the Miami Marlins. What can I say - I love the underdogs. Being a fan of these teams, especially the latter, is not always the easiest. The Tigers are coming off of postseason runs several seasons deep but, this year, things aren't looking quite that sunny. The Marlins, while seemingly better built for this 2015 campaign, are struggling, as well. Star players on both of my favorite clubs have been and still are hurt. Pitching is a weakness. Offense goes missing when it is needed the most. But, through it all, I love them. And I love baseball.

I've met some wonderful people because of this game. Now, admittedly, most of them I have not yet met in person. The girl I call my best friend is a Tigers fan and we came together on Twitter last year, like it was fate. Why wouldn't I want to surround myself with those who I can have meaningful conversations about the sport with? My family just expects me to talk about it, to watch it, to know it.

Like with reading and books, watching and discussing baseball is something that allows me to step away from the stress of job hunting or worrying about money or the complete loneliness that I sometimes feel. Like with books, baseball games can completely suck me into that world - nothing outside matters, only what is happening on the field. Baseball makes me think, fills me with excitement, works my mind in ways that reading can't, works in tandem with the exploration that books provide.

This post took a different direction than I expected. I was just going to talk about baseball and why I am a fan. I guess it makes more sense this way, though, connecting my two favorite things into one. Maybe, in the offseason, I will revisit this idea and think about whether or not reading has more importance when baseball isn't there every day. We'll see.

Hi, I'm Allison and welcome to my blog. Books and Balks isn't a new idea. I've been trying to maintain a book (and otherwise) blog for quite some time but, no matter how hard I put my mind to it, I always seem to abandon it within a few weeks. This time, I will hopefully be able to stick to it (as I type those words for the third time).

First, I'll direct you to where I was posting previously, Tumblr. You can find the beginnings of Books and Balks right here. Originally, that Tumblr was simply Allison Reads but I found that incorporating something else I really enjoy, baseball, was a way to keep me interested in writing and posting (yeah, okay, I still ended up forgetting about it). In this revamping, I decided that Tumblr probably wasn't the best choice if I wanted to get serious page views and come across as a blogger who cares (not to say that those on Tumblr do not care, of course). I just think that the .blogspot.com attribute is a little more appealing when coming across a blog. Better capability for comments and discussion only further this appeal.

I will be trying to stick to some sort of schedule. I hope to post at least one book post and one balk post each week - a Top 5 Wednesday or a tag or a State of the Tigers, something like that. I can't make any promises about this regularity but, man, I'm going to try.

A little bit more about me, if you are interested: I'm 23 years old and I live in Michigan. I graduated from college with a degree in sociology in May of 2015. I like baseball, reading, writing, playing the Sims, and drinking iced tea. I'm funny and smart (I think) and am always up for conversation.

Thanks for reading and coming along for the ride.