Welcome to baseball season, folks.

Pitchers and catchers are officially reporting to spring training this week, with the A’s and Giants arriving at camp on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

We are only a matter of days away from games featuring never-to-be-heard-from-again players wearing Nos. 83 and 67. That’s the good stuff. It’s also when the reality that the 2023 season is truly upon us will hit.

In the meantime, let’s celebrate the fact that two off-seasons from hell in the Bay are over. Let’s lean into this optimism a bit.

It can’t hurt, right?

I’m excited for so many things this spring. Here are just a few of them:

The new face of the franchise

We’re now nine years separated from the Giants’ last World Series win.

Yes, Brandon Crawford is still at shortstop, but Brandon Belt is a Blue Jay, Buster Posey is a part owner, Hunter Pence is in the broadcast booth, Madison Bumgarner is hanging with his horses (I suppose he also pitches for the Diamondbacks), and no one can really tell us where Tim Lincecum is.

Also, the baseball is no longer dead, pitchers don’t hit anymore, the Padres spend money, and the Giants will open the 2023 season in New York … against the Yankees.

Some things have changed, my friends. It was time to emotionally move on from that era of greatness a long time ago, but that transition finally feels like it is here, in no small part because the team has a new lead voice.

Logan Webb didn’t grow up a Giants fan in the Sacramento area, but he has become the face of a team that desperately needed one. More important, he’s become the guy who tells it like it is and whose words actually carry some weight.

It’s hardly a coincidence that he’s also the team’s best player.

At least we think so.

I’m excited to see what Webb does as his role unambiguously transitions from being one of the guys to “the guy” on the Giants. I’m interested in seeing if his game can transform the same way.

Webb was excellent last year, certainly worthy of a Cy Young Award vote or two. Still, one could view his 2022 as a bit of a regression from his breakout 2021 season. Strikeouts were down, hits allowed were (slightly) up.

But a monster season from Webb could go a long way for this team in more than the obvious ways.

Webb represents the new guard. He wasn’t drafted by Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, but his ascent to the big leagues and a big role aligns with the Zaidi era.

Can Webb take that next step? Can he go from an unquestionably good pitcher — one any team would take — to a great one?

If he can, the Giants might just come along with him and surprise a few people in the process.

A’s new inefficiency?

The A’s stuck with their plan to pawn off an entire baseball organization, one piece at a time, this offseason. Alas, major league rules demand they must field a team.

And while I certainly don’t expect the A’s to do anything interesting in the American League West, there are some players on this roster who make me wonder if they might just be better than last year. After going 60-102, it’s not a high bar.

Shintaro Fujinami is a few years removed from being a hot shot in Japan, but the big right-hander still has some strikeouts in that three-quarters delivery, the A’s reckon. He’s on a one-year deal.