The September meeting of the OLLI Baseball Interest Group will be held at on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 3 p.m. at Stauffer’s Cafe & Pie Shoppe, 5600 S. 48th Street.

All OLLI baseball fans are invited to attend and participate. There is no need to register — just come on over to Stauffer’s, order some pie, and join in the conversation.

Here’s some of the things we’ll be talking about:

• The Major League races are in the final stretch. Which division races, or wildcard races, are you most interested in? Looks to me like the best three teams this year are the Dodgers, Astros and Yankees.

• The Kansas City Royals have a new owner, Kansas City businessman John Sherman. The franchise sold for $1 billion! What’s that mean for the future of the Royals, Dayton Moore or Ned Yost?

• Justin Verlander pitches his third no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays. Only Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax have pitched more no-hitters. Where does Verlander rank on your “all-time” list?

• Rhonda Revelle was re-instated by the Nebraska Athletic Department but then a group of current players lodged a complaint about her coaching style with the newly formed College Athlete Advocacy Initiative. What does that portend for Revelle or Nebraska softball? How can she recruit?

• Saw a small item in the Lincoln Journal-Star: “Between 2013 and 2018, the number of U.S. kids playing baseball and softball combined increased by nearly 3 million, according to annual surveys by the Sports Fitness & Industry Association. During that same period, participation in soccer and football declined and basketball increased only slightly. ‘The increase in baseball participation is real, there’s no question about it, and it’s substantial. It’s statistically significant without a doubt,’ said Tom Cove, president and CEO of the SFIA. According to the Aspen Institute, 13.6% of kids ages 6-12 played baseball in 2018, a 3% increase from 2015.” That’s the most optimistic things I’ve read about baseball in quite some time! Any idea what brought about the increase?