Or words to that effect.
They are all delusional or repeating what management told them to say to sell tickets.
The only manager who can say that without crossing his fingers behind his back is Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
What the rest know and are keeping under wraps until it reveals itself on the field is:
- The portly center fielder gained 20 pounds over the winter and is now the fat center fielder. He’ll chase fly balls like a 15-legged caterpillar.
- His Opening Day pitcher won’t be pitching on Opening Day because he hurt his shoulder a week before spring training participating in a bowling marathon.
- Do we really have to embarrass ourselves by playing the Dodgers?
All this, of course, is exaggeration but it is no exaggeration to say that about 25 of the 30 teams have no chance of seeing the World Series except on TV.
Major League Baseball continues to be the most lopsided and unfair of all professional sports because spending is not controlled.
The Dodgers payroll is $414 million, the New York Mets payroll is $386 million, the New York Yankees payroll is $336 million, the Philadelphia Phillies payroll is $325 million and the Toronto Blue Jays payroll is $312 million.
Pick two from that menu to participate in the World Series. The rest? Early golf, early fishing, early beach-bumming.
What chance does Miami have with its $100 million payroll? Or Tampa Bay at $111 million? Or Cleveland at $119 million?
And, yes, the Cincinnati Reds with their $120 million payroll?
The Dodgers’ payroll is more than the combined payrolls of Miami, Tampa Bay and Cleveland.
And playing the Dodgers is as much fun as taking a 3-and-2 fastball right down Route One for strike three with two outs and the bases-loaded in the ninth inning of a tie game.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Parity in MLB is merely a six-letter word that begins with ‘p’ and ends with ‘y,’ as in pay. In MLB you have to pay to play and too many teams can’t pay and too many teams overpay.
MLB has a luxury tax, supposedly called the Competitive Balance Tax. Any team with a payroll above $244 million pays a tax.
That is supposed to level the playing field? What a hoax. The Dodgers shrug their shoulders and write MLB a check for $171 million to cover their tax.
That $171 million LA will pay in a luxury tax is more than the total payrolls for 13 teams, nearly half the teams in MLB.
The answer, of course, is a salary cap, but the players don’t even know the question.
MLB is the only major U.S. professional sport without a salary cap and the players are solidly against it, all of them.
Even players for the Marlins, Rays and Guardians are against it, even though they won’t ever wear a World Series ring with those teams.
It is all about the Clevelands, and that doesn’t mean the Cleveland Guardians. It is about the picture of our 22nd president, Grover Cleveland, on the $1,000 bill.
What those players on the bottom-feeding teams count upon is that when they become free agents they can sign with a rich team and make big money and maybe wear a World Series ring.
And salary cap be damned.
What it amounts to is that there are about 12 MLB teams that are developmental team for the top-level teams. They draft and develop young players who then flee for greener, much greener, pastures.
And the fans of the Marlins, Rays, Guardians and their ilk know their teams have no chance and only the most dedicated and loyal fans pay big league money to see minor league teams.
The MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on December 31 and the two sides should be negotiating intensely toward a new agreement.
But buckle up. The owners, of course, want a salary cap. The players don’t. Stalemate.
It is odds-on that there will be a work stoppage before the 2026 season is too far along.
And there couldn’t be a worse scenario for both sides. It’s call killing the Golden Goose.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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