(Just a warning: this review is basically me shitting all over this book.) 
 I read another review for this book by the user Miriam (which can be found here) where the user talks about how they disliked the book so much yet they wanted to keep reading it. 
 And, strangely enough, the exact same thing happened to me. I read so much of it despite me hating it from the beginning, and I got more than halfway through the book before I had to give it up. 
 I hated this book. Let me just throw this out here right now, I absolutely hated it. Was it because the plot was dry? Meh, sort of, it kinda had a plot that wasn't bad. Was it because I don't really like baseball yet I still read this book that was primarily about baseball? Not really, it's not like they went through an entire game through the book. It mainly followed the lives of the players on the team and the people around them. Then god, why did I hate this book so god damn much? Well, let's see! 
 I couldn't stand the voice of the characters in this book. Especially Owen's... and Affenlight's... and OH GOD Pella's voice. They were all disgustingly pretentious, using god damn SAT vocabulary words in normal casual conversation. Who the fuck uses "indeed" in normal conversation? Even the most intelligent people in the world probably don't use the word "indeed" when speaking with their friends casually! Owen is supposed to be twenty years old! Who can speak like that and not have everyone around them hate them! Does the author of this book even know how young adults speak? I guess it's part of the characters unique charm, but god do I hate that pretentious way of speaking. 
 Moving on, the character's problems bored me to death, the humor was so dry it burned, and every character left a sour taste in my mouth. Affenlight and Owen's relationship bothered me, and though I usually love LGBT characters/relationships in books, their relationship felt so lifeless and stupid I couldn't even bring myself to care. The age gap didn't even bother me- it's Affenlight's stupid old man inner turmoil that bothered me. Was it appropriate? Definitely, if he didn't have any inner turmoil then it wouldn't have been realistic. I understand that he was lovesick and silly, but everything about the way he viewed Owen and thought about him was just... ugh. Pella's issues with her ex-husband and Schwartz were so incredibly stupid I could hardly stand to read it. I wanted to relate to Pella, I have some issues that she has, but her life and problems were just so dry and boring I could hardly stand it. She also seems incredibly whiny and immature, which I suppose was the point of her character, but it doesn't make her any more fun to read about. 
 I'm a senior in high school, and if this is what college is like, I'm going to be super disappointed next year. I can't even bring myself to complain about every aspect of this book anymore because I can't stand to think about it anymore. It was well written, I just hated it. I can't even look at the people who are giving this book glowing reviews. All in all, maybe I'm too young for this book. Maybe it's too realistic. Maybe I just hate baseball and the mid-western United States too much.