The Yankees Win Another One

So the New York Yankees have won another world championship. Whoop Dee Do! Shouldn't they win the championship? Just look at their payroll. The Yankees have bought a championship for $280 million dollars. To put this into some perspective, the Yankees' payroll is almost 1/3 TRILLION DOLLARS! The Red Sox are close behind. With a player payroll of over 150 million dollars, shouldn't you win the championship EVERY SINGLE YEAR? The Yankees win is not newsworthy. A Red Sox championship or for that matter any big market championship in baseball is not newsworthy. SPENDING THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY, THEY SHOULD WIN!

I find it interesting that the fans of these big market teams will justify these payrolls because they have more media revenue and have larger attendance figures (they DO have a larger metropolitan area to draw from) and even thumb their nose at fans of smaller market clubs when the cry goes forth for revenue sharing. So, here is an idea, why not just put the Yankees and Red Sox and other big market teams in their own league? Why not just let the Yankees play inter squad games so that they can claim their own championship? Let the Red Sox compete with the Red Sox! Give them their own intramural championship trophy. And then let the mid to small market teams such as Cleveland, St. Louis, and others compete for the World Series, if the big market teams don't want to share revenue or resources to a greater extent than they are now, so as to level the playing field, then give them their own championship. It would be worth as much as the championship we saw awarded last night.

Are You World Serious?

Here it is the first game of the World Series, and I am not interested. A baseball fan like me SHOULD be watching the game, after all, the two former Cy Young Award winning Indians are throwing to start off the series. But I can't get into it. Is it because the Tribe traded away their two best pitchers (CC and Lee) and got little in return? Perhaps. Is it because the Yankees are playing and I hate the Yankees? Maybe. But more likely it is the fact that the Series is starting on October 28. Are you serious? October 28 is the middle of the NFL season, the end of the high school football season, it is the beginning of the hockey and basketball seasons. There is something wrong with October 28 being the start of the World Series. THE SERIES SHOULD BE CONCLUDING ON OCTOBER 28, NOT JUST BEGINNING.

Now, I know why the Series is starting so late, it is in large part because the regular season lasts as long as it does. The regular season is 162 games, no double headers scheduled, so that MLB clubs can maximize their ticket sales in order to pay the salaries of their respective ball clubs. But something has to be done to shorten the season so that the Series can end by October 28. How about day and night doubleheaders, where there are individual ticket sales for both games? A four game weekend series can be shortened to four games in three days, thereby giving the ball player the day off that he needs. I would even start the season earlier, at the end of March, and risk a possible snow out rather than begin a World Series at the end of October. f

MLB can thank the good Lord that two major markets are competing for the baseball world championship, because if it was anyone else other than Philly, LA, Boston or NY, their TV ratings would be in the tank. I predict that the ratings will be respectable only because it is the Yankees that are playing in the World Series. If I were a betting man, many can't get into a World Series that starts October 28. Hey, college basketball begins in a couple of weeks! Baseball should be over by this time of year. If there was any justice, bad weather will plaque the East Coast, weather that would be fitting to the time of year that it is, Fall going into Winter. Interested in the World Series? This year? Are you serious? I would rather watch the Blue Jackets and the Browns. Well, maybe not the Browns, but you get the idea.