RE: RIP MLB

So JTL couldn’t see the beauty in the Red Sox’s road to the championship. I guess he wasn’t impressed by the (h)uuuge Manny Ramirez walk-off homer in game 2 of the ALDS off one of the toughest closers in K-Rod, or by Boston overcoming a 3-1 deficit thanks to one of the more brilliant pitching performances (Josh Beckett 8IP, 1ER, 11K) I’ve ever witnessed, or by doing what no National League team could do: slay the purple Barneys and put an end to the Rockies’ incredible (but annoying) streak of 21 wins in their last 22 games. Admittedly, it was an amazing feat and I’m glad that the people of Colorado were able to witness it (though I would bet about 80% of the fans didn’t even realize they had a streak going until they won about 10 straight) but by no means was the baseball world ready to accept the COLORADO ROCKIES as its crowned victor. That would have been the real tragedy. There are few things worse than a team building up momentum, dominating their opponents, and then inexplicably crumbling on the championship stage (see 2006 Detroit Tigers, 05/06 Dallas Mavericks). The Red Sox were the right team to win the 2007 World Series. They were the best from the beginning to the end and they had the character, the talent, and the drive to be the champs.

OK, so you’re going to say, “yeah, they deserved to be the champs, but only because they paid the hefty price tag”. Well that may be true but can you blame a team for making every attempt to reward its devoted fans with the one thing they covet: a championship. The MLB, just like the NBA and the NFL, is a business, and to the extent that spending gobs of money makes sense from a business model perspective and you can absorb the payroll and handle the 40-cents-on-the-dollar luxury tax, then why not play to compete? I applaud the Red Sox and the Yankees and the other high rollers for finding creative ways to work around the barriers (TV contracts, merchandise revenue, paying $51 million non-refundable just so your opponents can’t negotiate with an international pitching phenom, etc.). The one thing the MLB has taught is that teams that want to win will find ways to win.

And if you’re upset about the Yanks & Sox snatching all the attention, you should be happy to hear about all the drama being shifted over to L.A. I’ll admit, the 07 series was a downer if you didn’t happen to be a Sox fan or a Rockies hater, but that’s no reason to blow up about the state of the game. The Red Sox were bound to get all the attention they did by sweeping the World Series, and when the sport’s biggest superstar decides to stick it to one of the most storied franchises at the same time, then as a sports fan you’re just going to have to endure some Sox/Yanks coverage.

Let’s take a look at the most recent winners of the World Series and where they ranked on the highest team payroll list:

2001 (Diamondbacks #8)
2002 (Angels #15)
2003 (Marlins #25 at $48MM)
2004 (Red Sox #2)
2005 (White Sox #13 vs Astros #12)
2006 (Cardinals #11 vs Tigers #14)
2007 (Red Sox #2 vs Rockies #25; runners-up: Diamondbacks #26; and Indians #23)

Comments:

Out of 30 total MLB franchises, the 25th highest-paid team, the 2003 Florida Marlins, beat the Yankees in 6; In 2007, 3 of the final 4 teams were in the BOTTOM quartile salary wise; Only one team has won twice since 2000
In the NFL, the Patriots won 3 years straight until the Colts won last year. This year? Looks like it will be the Colts or Pats.
In the NBA, the Spurs have won 3 times in the past 5 years

Here are some things that suck about the NFL that don’t suck about MLB:

• Too often, the final outcome comes down to a pesky, little, single-coil-helmet, mismatching-shoes, cupless, padless, field goal kicker who probably used to get picked last on the playground. The NFL needs to enforce a rule that field goals are illegal once you reach the 2-min mark in the 4th quarter.
• The Challenge thing has gotten out of hand. So the game already lasts like 4 hours with only 20 or so minutes of real, onfield action. Now some dude throws a little red flag out of his pocket and the refs go into some space travel simulator machine and spend like 5 minutes watching replays even though everyone in America already knows the real outcome. I hope baseball doesn’t allow for replay reviews. Being subject to the refs/umpires and their human imperfection is part of sports.
• The whole calling a timeout right before a field goal attempt is annoying
• Helmet-banging, muscle-flexing, touchdown-dancing abound…much too much.

Here are some things that suck about the NBA that don’t suck about MLB:

• Contact sport. I think they should reduce the foul limit to 3 per player. Too many players just break up the flow of what would otherwise be a beautiful game when they hack someone going up for a bucket just because they have 6 fouls to give. Nobody ever thinks they committed a foul and they always think they got fouled when they’re running back up the court jawing off to the ref. That’s why I’ve enjoyed watching Kevin Durant so far. He just plays his game and leaves the officiating to the refs. I wonder how long it will last. I also hate the charge/block call. I don’t know what the solution is for that one.
• The tattoos are getting out of control. I think the Denver Nuggets have like 200 tattoos between them. The only cool tattoos are Tom Gugliota’s barbed wire tattoo and Stephen Jackson’s new tattoo of the Warriors logo across his torso.

I’m not down on the NFL or the NBA. I just think that baseball is still beautiful and the Red Sox winning is no reason to think less of the game. 4 straight lopsided world series just has people in a tizzy.
Red Sox payroll
NBA 06/07 Team Salaries
NFL 2006 Team Salaries
MLB 2007 Team Salaries