Seems odd, but one baseball season is wrapping up while another one is just beginning.

Major League Baseball finally started its regular season Thursday night. It’s been reduced to 60 games.

The Butler County Area Baseball League is in the middle of its postseason tournament after seeing its regular season reduced to 13 games.

The reduction in games is where the similarities between these two leagues end.

Obviously, MLB is professional baseball and houses the best players in the world (Japan may argue that) while the BCABL consists of local high school players. That’s not the difference I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the difference in attitude.

MLB could have started its season much earlier — Fourth of July would have been nice — had it not been for absolutely ridiculous squabbles over money.

The owners and players couldn’t agree on how to slice up the financial pie. Billionaires fought with millionaires while fans of the game were denied baseball.

Then you have the BCABL.

Its players had just been denied their high school season. They couldn’t wait to get back on the field.

While MLB players stayed off the field because of stalled negotiations, BCABL players were kept off the field by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big difference there.

These kids aren’t paid a dime to play baseball. They just wanted to suit up and play for their community teams.

There’s been a few people in the stands at BCABL games this summer. There will be no fans in the stands at MLB games, with good reason.

Regardless, that’s another interesting difference.

Finally, three BCABL players — Isaac Love of Saxonburg, Andrew Arbanas of Center Township and Chuck Spontak of Pine Richland — received $1,000 scholarships from the BCABL recently through essays they wrote detailing what community baseball means to them.

They were three of 23 players in the league who wrote such an essay.

These players wrote about life lessons they’ve learned through being a member of a team, forming lasting friendships, gaining self-confidence, the benefits of experiencing dealing with failure, the admiration of supportive parents, coaches and volunteers, etc.

MLB players experienced all of those things at some point in their journey to become the best at what they do.

Yes, baseball is their job now. But there’s times when we can question just how much they enjoy their job and appreciate the game they play.

Right now, BCABL players appreciate their baseball experiences a whole lot more.

That’s the biggest difference of all.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle