I'm not going to hate the Yankees this season. I'm no longer going to blame them for trying to buy out the World Series every year by paying way over top dollar for a roster that would probably better serve as the A.L. All-Star team.
Why should I blame them? They're breaking no rules. They don't do anything underhandedly. None of their business practices are questionable. They're just following the guidelines set by Major League Baseball.
But I still don't like that the Yankees have turned half of the major league teams into Quadruple-A baseball, using them as a second farm system by buying up all the young talent. So just where can I place the blame for my frustrations with America's pasttime? On baseball itself.
There's no real salary cap. The Yankees pay the luxury tax for going over the soft cap baseball has like its a trade tariff. So do the Red Sox, mind you. This is why I'm not considering the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates Quadruple-A ball.
They're not in the same league as the Red Sox and Yankees anymore, or even the Dodgers or Braves in the National League.
Parity has disappeared, replaced by a five-year schedule of middle-market teams who save up to buy a year of two of legitimate championship contention before dumping their payroll and fallign back into the abyss.
The Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Braves, and probably the Cardinals and a couple others will be in the running every year, while the middle-class of baseball scrimps and saves for half a decade to climb into the spotlight, and the lower-class teams (KC, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Tampa Bay) become a feeder team. Earning high draft picks, building respectable farm system that has really become a cash-crop system, selling every and all prospects to the highest large-market bidder.
The Yankees are the richest team with the richest owner. Why wouldn't they take advantage of a system so flawed in their favor? They force the Red Sox to spend nearly as much just to keep up in the division.
I know the Patriots and owner Bob Kraft would do the same thing if no salary cap was established in the NFL. They have the money to stay competitive in such a league, and I wouldn't complain if such was the case, so I won't complain just because I don't root for the Yankees.
However, it's pretty hard to watch a sport when every prediction made by the "experts" before the season comes true because its just so predictable.
The consensus pick in the NFL for the Super Bowl before the season started? The Carolina Panthers, who missed the playoffs.
In baseball? It was basically a toss up between a handful of teams, all of whom made the playoffs. No surprise that the Cardinals won it, they're there every year, and people knew the Tigers had hit the point where theyre saving had turned to investing and were making their newest run at a title.
So I'll stop saying "Yankees suck!" when they're not playing the Red Sox, and I'll stop blaming them for ruining the sport, because they're not ruining anything. It's already ruined by the league itself. Baseball won't last much longer, I believe, if salaries start hitting $300 million for ten years (A-Rod's was $250 million for that amount of time). The bottom-level franchises will crumble when fan support disappears. Eventually the citizens of Kansas City will stop believing their team will ever succeed, right?
It's just not practical to run a sports league like a capitalist national economy. Competition has to be even or its not interesting. Do you think anyone's wondering how Microsoft is gonna pull it out this year? No. The Yankees? Not them either. The Patriots? Yeah, every year people wonder how they will pull off another winning season. The Pats are the closest thing to the Yankees in the NFL, and that's only because they were successful, not because they spend any more money.
The Pats can't even hang onto their own players, nevermind buy up all the big-money free agents! The Washington Redskins try that approach every offseason and it fails every time. That's why the NFL is the best sports league in the world right now, and why I blame the leaders of the MLB for failing America's loyal baseball fans.
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6 comments:
I totally agree with what you said. I've always loved baseball, and it kills me at the thought of it destroying itself and eventually dying. I think they need to impose a salary cap on baseball, but unfortunately I don't know enough about the business side of sports to know if this is even possible. I think ticket prices also need to go down. It's ridiculous how much these things cost. You either have to scrimp and save to see your favorite team or have a disposable income where going to a game and buying food all day is a drop in the bucket.
First the Colts, then the Yanks... jeez, have you lost your unabashed New England we're-better-just-because-we-are fury??
Kidding, kidding. I watch sports-- always have (thanks to my daddy). And I can regurgitate things I hear like whoa. But I don't really have anything new and/or insightful to add to your post.
That being said, you definitly come off very professional as a journalist, and I really enjoy reading things that you write. A lot of times "amateur" sports writing annoys me because people tend to just try to hard. But you have a very natural, easy-going, but still passionate thing going on...
So yeah. Keep it up...? And thanks for some thoughts to spew all over the next cocktail party I attend.
I think i'd hate the yankees less if their owner wasn't such a-hole. At the same time, isn't that pretty much the problem with all sports. College Football has no parity. A Boise State will lose more often than not. That's why I love the NFL, any given sunday, you never know.
But Kevin, if there was no George Steinbrener then we would be without so many wonderful Seinfeld moments
true that, you've inspired me to go eat a calzone, where's costanza!?
fun fact: the voice is Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiam
Ah yes, I did know that. And while we're off topic, Larry David was also the caped man, Frank Costanza's lawyer. And now *I* want a calzone. Imagine if you could buy calzones at baseball games instead of hot dogs. Maybe then people would be more interested in attending baseball games again?
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