Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye. Sometimes it really, really isn’t.

It has been a while since I got a paper cable bill delivered to my house. But I’m considering printing a copy so I can conduct a Viking funeral — letting my monthly statement float into the Inner Harbor while set brilliantly aflame.

Far from a ritual of mourning, it feels like the only fitting way to send off one of the toxic relationships of my life in epic fashion.

It’s hard to imagine subscribing to cable TV for much longer after the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network finally answered the cries of its viewers and created a direct-to-consumer streaming option for both of its channels announced Monday morning. Now fans of the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals — two of the last three MLB teams without a DTC option — don’t need to be chained to a cord to watch local broadcasts of games.

Orioles broadcasts are among the last few bits of programming I watch on cable TV. Now consumers like me will see a drop from $160 a month for cable to $89.99 for MASN’s DTC for the rest of the season? It’s the same feeling you get from the IRS sending you a tax refund.

We’ve known for a while that the game was rigged for cable. We should celebrate the ability to sidestep punishing packages, which rose in price just last year.

It is such a huge step, even if it feels a few years behind. Orioles President of Business Operations Catie Griggs said it was a priority for her almost as soon as she was hired in July. It is extremely telling that, after the Orioles and Nationals settled their yearslong litigation in March, MASN has prepared much-anticipated direct-to-consumer options just one month later.

“Fans haven’t been quiet that this is something that they’ve been wanting,” Griggs said. “Definitely early on, it was an obvious thing that we knew we were going to need to address.”

For a network that has been stubbornly stuck in a cable-bound past, it’s a big leap — and hopefully the first of many for a more forward-thinking business operation that is well aware there’s a lot of work to do.

There’s going to be a horde of folks signing up through the MASN app this week, and one of the first things they’ll notice is how flimsy the app is. Those who have streamed games with their cable providers know the online feeds need more stability and a better interface. With DTC subscribers, MASN will have to address that issue soon.

Related to the quality of the interface is the quality of the programming. Poker? Sumo wrestling? The other random things you get on MASN that aren’t baseball probably aren’t worth your time. It would be great to see the new business administration use the DTC revenue stream to make more baseball-related programming or buy rights to sports that you might want to watch.

Fans probably also want to know about the future of the personalities they’ve come to love on broadcasts. Cuts have been made, including fewer people manning the desk on “O’s Xtra” and the legendary Jim Palmer appearing in fewer games this season.

MASN signed Kevin Brown to a multiyear extension last summer, and it would be great to see Ben McDonald and other on-air personalities be secured on the network for years to come. Even through the recent rough patch to start the season, it’s been more fun to watch with familiar faces and voices bringing context — along with the occasional unexpected surprise side details, including how Palmer has never eaten a chicken wing in his nearly 80 years.

There is a lot to improve about the product more people will now have access to, and it’s no surprise that it feels as if MASN is still closer to the starting line, given all the years the previous management was content not to serve its audience. When I asked Griggs about some of these facets that need to be addressed for the future of the network, she left most of these questions open-ended, saying the reception to DTC will help drive more change in MASN itself.

“We’re going in eyes wide open to this experience,” she said, “and we’re going to be learning with our fans.”

It is, after all, a changing media landscape. MLB is caught in a kind of limbo, with many of its regional sports networks just recently under management of now-bankrupt companies and a long-standing partnership with ESPN ending after this season.

Griggs was bullish, however, that the future of a network that has seemed stuck for so long is bright.

The urgency to provide a DTC option gives the new administration some credibility — and gives cable subscribers a chance for liberation. More changes to MASN should be coming, but this victory for viewers is one to savor by itself.