It didn’t make sense at the time why Pete Buttigieg had set his sights on Amy Klobuchar as a target two debates ago. She seemed as perplexed as the rest of us. But he kept throwing fast balls at her, one after another.

During one point of the debate, he scoffed at her inability to name Mexico’s president in an interview with Telemundo. Klobuchar looked at Buttigieg and asked, “Are you – are you trying to say that I’m dumb?”

Poor Klobuchar didn’t seem ready for Mr. Perfect going after her. But he had warmed up, put on his uniform and he had a plan.

Not a plan to win the game but a plan to stay on the team.

Over the weekend, he completed the next phase of the plan by dropping out of the presidential race. Klobuchar did the same on Monday.

Buttigieg doesn’t need to be the star player. He has a lot of time for that in the future. But he can be a good teammate and sell souvenirs at the snack shop or wear the mascot costume when asked.

So in an attempt to help out Sleepy Joe in the future, he tried to strike out Klobuchar as many times as possible. Then he went after Crazy Bernie at the next debate, trying to warn everyone that Sanders wasn’t even playing the same sport as the rest of them and would ruin the game.

No one really knows if Buttigieg is doing the bidding of the DNC or if he’s a free agent looking for a nice signing bonus in the future. Either way, he’s got leverage and also good timing.

There’s really no reason to leave the race before Super Tuesday even if you’ve run out of money. The only reason to leave before those votes are cast is so you don’t take delegates away from someone else. And the obvious choice of that “someone else” looks like Pete’s teammate Joe Biden.

Both Buttigieg and Klobuchar are set to endorse Biden as expected.

It seems a little crazy that the DNC has landed on senile Biden to be their candidate to defeat Trump. A man who doesn’t know what ballpark he’s in half of the time. But when you have a weak roster, you end up with what you end up with as the star of the team.

I’m sure Biden’s appeal is that he will let everyone keep their side bets going and the team will be able to continue as they always have, a money making mob operation disguised as a political party.

No one will have to clean up to play the game. The dirtier the uniform the better.

Biden won’t just be the star player. He’ll be the umpire if he wins the White House. He’ll be able to pardon all of his friends (and himself) in the future – Obama, Clapper, Brennan, Comey and the rest of the bullpen of sleazes.

Biden will also be a good puppet of whoever is really in charge. He will do whatever they say – make a hit, swing and miss or take a walk. It’s all the same to him.

Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders keeps plugging along, showing up at the games, making some runs and keeping the fans happy while all of the coaches, players, managers, owners and TV crews try to figure out how to get him off the diamond.