I am no expert in the field of chronometry, but I feel comfortable saying that the month of January 2026 sure felt like it lasted a lot longer than 31 days. It had to have been at least 84, right? All months without baseball feel like they go by more slowly, but this one, whew, this one sure dragged, didn’t it?

But today is Sunday, Feb. 1, and I am delighted to report: We have made it. We have made it to February.

It’s not like January had nothing — there was plenty of Hot Stove action, the announcement of the new Hall of Fame inductees and some individual team fanfests. But February is when baseball finally, finally starts getting going. After a long offseason that stretched through November, December and January, we are almost there. Baseball is almost back.

And I really mean almost. Baseball will, in fact, return this month — helpfully, the shortest month of the year. Once you get into February, you have Baseball Activities and, eventually, actual Baseball Games before you know it. Get out your calendar, because it’s all going to be happening over the next six weeks. Here’s a look at the key dates on the horizon.The notion of players “reporting” to Spring Training is probably a little bit outdated. These players have been training all offseason — the days when players had to go work as bricklayers in the winter are a century in the past — and a high percentage of them are surely already at team facilities or in the general vicinity. It’s a year-round sport: Somewhere, your favorite player is likely stretching and doing long toss right now.