MILWAUKEE, Wis. — When I boarded my plane in Tampa on Monday morning, it hit me that this was my last road trip before retirement. The end date, next Tuesday after the Final Four in Indianapolis, was something I had planned months ago, because it was the perfect book-end to my career, much of which has been driven by college basketball. My first Final Four was in Indy in 1980, and now my last will be there, too.

But covering baseball has been just as important, and when I looked at the schedule, maximizing my last business trip was essential. I've covered the Tampa Bay Rays for the past four years, and I started covering spring training in Florida 46 years ago. But the first baseball I covered was actually in Milwaukee, when I was a summer intern at the Milwaukee Journal back in 1979.

Baseball. The Rays. Milwaukee. And the final game of my daily-grind career.

What perfect timing.

What makes it even better is that Shane McClanahan is starting for the Rays on Tuesday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee. The left-hander was one of the best pitchers in the game in 2022 and 2023, my first two years on the beat, but he blew out his elbow in August of 2023, and then had a nerve issue in the same arm last year.

It's been two-plus years since he's pitched in a regular-season game, and that ends on Tuesday night. He'll start for the 2-2 Rays against the Brewers, starting at 7:40 p.m. ET. 

I'm glad I'm here to see it. There is nothing worse for a pitcher who loves the game to not be able to perform. This long stretch of rehab and recovery has been tough on McClanahan, a former first-round pick who will turn 28 next month.

This is supposed to be the prime of his career. Instead, it's ''start over'' night on Tuesday.

I can't think of a better place to be.

Or a better game to cover for my very last one.

Covering a baseball team all season is the toughest job in sportswriting. For eight months or more, there are no days off, and every work day is 10-12 hours. You spend more time all the ballpark — and hotels and airports — than you do at your own home or with your own family.

And it's a blast.

My first full season with the Rays was 2022 and McClanahan was spectacular that year. McClanahan, who was drafted by the Rays in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft after playing high school (Cape Coral) and college (South Florida) ball in Florida, picked 31st overall.

He was a minor-league All-Star and became the first pitcher ever to make his major-league debut in a postseason game in 2020. A star was born.

He was solid in 2021, and dominated in 2022, when opposing batters hit just .194 against him. He was 11-2 in 2023, and started the All-Star game for the American League. Some called him the most dominant lefty in the game, an emerging superstar.

And then on Aug. 2, 2023 in New York, he had to leave a game early against the Yankees with elbow soreness. He went back home to get checked out, and it was determined that he needed Tommy John surgery on his left elbow. 

We never saw him again that year.

The 2024 season season was all about rehab, and he was ramping up for a September return if the Rays needed him. They didn't, missing the postseason for the first time in six years.

The good news what that McClanahan went into the offseason healthy, and when spring training started in 2025, everyone was excited for a McClanahan return. His first four spring appearances went well, but the last one was cut short, too. McClanahan had a nerve issue in his arm, and was put on the injured list just before Opening Day.

Doctors couldn't figure out what was going on, and there was no workable plan to get McClanahan feeling better. Rest didn't help, and every time he started back up, the arm acted up again. He wound up missing the entire 2025 season, too.

So this spring, every throwing session and every game seemed like another barometer. Thankfully, everything went well all of March, and in his last outing, he walked off the mound with a big smile on his face.

Everyone exhaled. He made it. And now he was ready to go.

He was penciled in to pitch Game 5 for Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, partly to be sure he could pitch in a controlled weather environment inside the domed American Family Field. 

This long, hard journey is complete.

It's been hard, but it's also been worth it.  

“I’ve been thinking about this from the day I got hurt, to be honest with you,'' McClanahan said Monday in the Rays' clubhouse in Milwaukee when asked about returning to the mound. "I remember the bus ride, the feelings walking off the field that day, everything. I’m ready to put all of that to bed.

“I feel good, and I’m kind of just treating it like I’ve been treating everything else — just day by day. I think the difference is I’m a little more excited instead of being a little anxious or nervous in the past. I can’t wait to get out there and put all this (stuff) behind me.''

And when he throws that first pitch, everything will be right back to normal, just like in was two-plus years ago.

“Nothing (will be going through my mind), and that’s just how it is,'' he said. "When you get out there, all that training, everything you’ve gone through your whole life, it just allows you to focus. It’s true, we always talk about how everything disappears when you get out on that mound. I’m excited for that.

“Every game is important to me on its own, to be honest, whether it’s spring training, or a playoff game or a regular season game. You want to got out there and put your best foot forward.''

That next first step comes Tuesday night.

Starting pitchers are a unique breed. While their teammates are ready to play every day, they do their thing under the spotlights only once every five or six days. They work plenty hard between starts, but they also have a few free moments to chat about other things in the clubhouse on the days they aren't pitching.

With notebooks closed and recorders off, McClanahan and I have often talked golf and growing up in Florida, Drew Rasmussen and I have talked Oregon wines and being a father and grandfather, and Ryan Pepoit, a fellow Indiana native, talk all things basketball and such with me.

McClanahan and Rasmussen have a very close bond between each other, too. They are each other's biggest fans and are very close, spending lots of time together on and off the field. Rasmussen, who became at All-Star himself last year despite three elbow surgeries of his own, is thrilled to see his best pal back on the mound.

''As a friend, I couldn’t be more excited to watch him have the opportunity to do what he loves,'' Rasmussen told me on Monday. "As a competitor and a teammate, what he does for us every five days is something special. In both regards, having him back is awesome to see.

“I’m just really excited for him to get to experience it again. I know how hard he’s worked and I know the amount of time he’s put in. It is one of those things where the career is so fleeting and to just see him go out there and compete again, it truly is special.''

Season-ending injuries are really tough on pitchers, because you put in all the rehab work without ever knowing when you're going to be ready to pitch again. When you are, you're really never sure what kind of pitcher you're going to be.

You hope for the best, of course, but you never know. Rasmussen and McClanahan have both missed a lot of time — much of it together — and now they're back in the rotation together for the first time in three seasons.

They've had plenty of long conversations about what they've accomplished — and the time they've lost.

“We've been talking about gratitude more than anything. He’s excited for the opportunity, but he also understands that this opportunity isn’t given to everyone,'' Rasmussen said  “I think before both of us got hurt, there wasn’t necessary a lack of gratitude, per se, but it was more of an invincibility thing. You just expected every day to be a good day, health wise. And then, just like that, it's not.

“We now truly understand how fragile it is and we have to cherish every opportunity to compete when it comes up. That in itself is really special, but to share all of this with him is really nice, too.''

McClanahan, who is 33-16 all-time with a 3.01 ERA, has been through so much that he feels different about it all, too. He's more grown up at 28 than he was at 25, of course. But he's learned to deal with the highs and lows much better, too.

“What I’m really proud of is allowing myself to enjoy it,'' McClanahan said. "The emotions, the work you put in. You work six days a week to play one, and I love that quote. All the work you put in behind the scenes that isn’t glamorized or publicized, and that’s the hard stuff. Whenever you’re out there on that fifth or sixth day, that’s when the kid comes out in you and you play the game you love.

“I’m allowing myself to feel a little more joyous and kind of savor each moment that’s out there and be that kid again. I’m looking forward to just going out and helping us a win a game.''

It helps, too, that McClanahan starts the Rays' fifth game. He's been on trips to St. Louis and now Milwaukee to start the season, and the season-long routine is on. He's watched the Rays' other four starters — Rasmusse, Joe Boyle, Steven Matz and Nick Martinez — all make their first starts, and now it's his turn.

Being in the routine helps.

“I’ve been on a plane, even when I wasn’t pitching, but yeah, it’s good to be sitting next to Drew and being with everybody. That’s super special. We had an impromptu 10-person dinner last night, and it’s that kind of thing you miss, that camaraderie.

“I've liked being out there, and proving that I’m still coming back from this injury and I’m out there. There’s still a little ways to go, but I’m really proud of where I am. I want to go out there and I want to win. That’s a really mundane way of putting it, but there’s nothing more I love than being out there and winning with these guys.''

McClanahan feels good with his four-pitch mix, and he feels like he's comfortable with where he's at heading into Tuesday night.

He hit 100 mph with his fastball a few times before all the injuries, and he's talked about throttling things down a little bit post-surgery. But once the adrenaline kicks in, it might be different on Tuesday now that it's for real once again.

“I’m not really sure (about throttling back.) What I’ve noticed the difference in myself is that I’m not going to force things on a certain day,'' he said. "You’ve got to dance with the girl you brought, and I'm not being so focused on one pitch. I’ve got three other pitches I can use to get guys out.  It could be 100 tomorrow, but hopefully not anything less than we’re used to seeing.''

McClanahan will likely make his second start next Monday when the Rays return to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg for the first time since the end of the 2024 season. The stadium was damaged in Hurricane Milton, and the Rays played outdoors at Steinbrenner Field last year.

McClanahan joked that he's pitching for free on Monday because he's bought so many tickets for family and friends. It will be an emotional night in many other ways too because it's the first time he'll pitch in front of his mom without his dad there. His father, James McClanahan, passed away in February, and the two were close.

“I’m really looking forward to (Monday) and getting back to the Trop and seeing my mom there,'' he said. "I’m buying a lot of tickets that day, and I’m probably pitching for free that game.’’

It's really hard to believe it's been 47 years since I covered my first baseball games in the summer of 1979. It was such a fun few months here in Milwaukee, and I enjoyed my time at the old County Stadium. I worked with a great bunch of people, and learned a lot. It was a terrific experience.

Back then, the Brewers were an American League team and 1979 was their first really great year. George Bamberger's team won 95 games with Robin Yount, Gorman Thomas and the gang. Only four teams made the playoffs that year, and the Brewers finished second to the 102-win Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.

I grew up a huge baseball fan in Northwest Indiana and I've told this story many times, but I knew I wanted to be a sportswriter when I was 8 years old in the third grade. I read the Chicago writers who covered the Cubs and White Sox, and I knew that's what I wanted to be. I loved sports, and loved to write. Nothing could have been more perfect.

I covered spring training for the St. Petersburg Times throughout the 1980s and coordinated all of our baseball coverage at the Tampa Tribune in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And during my eight years at Sports Illustrated before coming to Roundtable Sports last August, I did plenty of baseball, too.

I cherished my time with the Rays the past four years, and really enjoyed being a part of it every day.

It will all end on Tuesday night — the daily writing. I'm happy for it. Nearly 50 years is enough, and it's time to slow down.

So take me to the finish line, Shane McClanahan. Put a bow on it.