A Dilemma For Baseball That I Invented In My Head

Major League Baseball could be in big trouble. A series of events are falling into place that could result in a massive loss of its casual fan base. I’m not talking about the impending results of the Mitchell Investigation, although that could have catastrophic effects. After the strike in 1994 interest in baseball took a sharp decline. Stadiums were half empty. Fans left in droves, frustrated with both players and owners. Two events brought the fans back, and baseball back from it’s near death (maybe not death, but perhaps becoming less popular than soccer, I’m not sure which is worse).

The first was Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig’s 2130 consecutive games played streak in 1995. Now that’s something Americans can get behind, a record based on going to work everyday. Trust me I know, I have several perfect attendance awards from elementary school, and people loved me for it. The second event of course was the home run chase in 1998. Fans were riveted by nightly updates of Sammy Sosa’s and Mark McGuire’s assault on Roger Maris’ single season home run record. They both ended up breaking the mark and baseball was back to being America’s pastime.

Those two things brought the casual fan back into the game, but Ripken’s streak ended in 1998 and he retired in 2001. The home run record has not only already been broken, but it’s all been tainted by the cloud of steroids. So what has kept the casual fan interested? Why is the popularity of baseball still high? Many reasons of course, but I think there is one unifying element among the majority of average fans that keeps them watching every night: hating the New York Yankees. Obviously there are millions of diehards who love the game as it is and root for they’re favorite team no matter what. But these are the people who never left, the strike might have left a stain on the game but they were still fans. On the other hand there are an equal number of people who would tell you they like baseball but don’t know much about the game other than what they see on ESPN occasionally. These are the people who needed to be told who Matt Holliday was during the World Series this year. They couldn’t tell you the third starter on their favorite team is, but the do know one thing. Namely they hate the Yankees because they “buy” championships.

Herein lies the problem for MLB. The Yankees are falling apart at the seams. Alex Rodriguez is gone. Joe Torre is gone. Any Pettitte opted out of his contract today and may choose to retire. Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada are free agents. It’s not a great offseason to be a Yankee fan, but this could be bad for baseball as well. Hypothetically let’s say the team does lose all of those players to free agency; that is close to $70 million in payroll subtracted from last season. Add to it Roger Clemens and his $16 million retiring and the Yankees could potentially have only the fifth or sixth highest payroll coming into the season. What will people have to latch onto as a reason to hate them? Because that’s the thing, somewhere along the line it became more fun for the average fan to root against other teams than it did to root for their own. What happens when the evil empire is no longer evil? By June your standard Orioles fan, for example, has given up on the season, they’re no longer interested in watching the fate of their own team. All they have left is hoping the Yankees and their enormous payroll underachieve in the playoffs again. They revel in it, as do many other fans of many other teams. Well there is a chance the Yankees will start the season with a payroll similar to the O’s and expectations not much higher. If that’s the case then by June when they don’t care about their team anymore they have nothing else to care about. They’ll just quit on baseball altogether and this can’t be a scenario that makes MLB happy.

Here’s the kicker, the thing that will make people heads explode: the Yankees, instead of underachieving with a huge payroll like they have the last few years, could just as easily overachieve with a reasonable payroll next year. Then people really wouldn’t know what to do. Who hates the underdog? All of those players leaving in free agency leave gaping holes in the lineup and rotation but it doesn’t exactly leave the cupboard bare. There is still plenty of talent. Instead of being the odds on favorite to win it all they would be a team with a ton of question marks who could surprise some people come September and October. What if Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Jason Giambi stay healthy all year? Add in Jeter, Cano, Abreu, and Cabrera and that’s still a formidable lineup. They might be starting the season with three rookie or second year guysin the starting rotation. But between Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy if two of those three guys live up to even 80% of there potential then combined with Wang that would be a fairly solid rotation. These are all big ifs, but there not that unlikely. Do I think the Yankees have a shot at the World Series? Probably not. Can they surprise a lot people? Absolutely, and that is the last thing a lot of people want to see. They’ll hate that they can’t hate it. Ever Yankee basher has a standard set of arguments that they rarely deviate from but they wouldn’t be able to use any of them anymore.

Every story needs a villain. MLB needs that to be the Yankees. People are celebrating their demise now, but they’ll get bored. And eventually they’ll get bored with baseball altogether if they don’t have the Yankees to root against.

Of course there is always the new Yankees: the Boston Red Sox.

I would like to congratulate the New York Yankees, 2008 American League Champions

The New York Yankees officially sealed up the American League Championship today. The World Series isn’t a lock yet, but let’s face it, they will be playing a National League team so it kind of is. The curse has been lifted. And no I’m not talking about Alex Rodriguez opting out of his contract. It a widely held thought that they could not win with him at third base. Even though he’s a selfish dick, I’m not sure I agree with that, he’s a selfish dick who happens to be able to destroy baseballs; regardless he is not the cursed soul that has been plaguing the Yankees as of late. Today the Yankees announced that they have offered a contract to Joe Girardi to manage the ball club. Along with that announcement it was stated that Don Mattingly, current bench coach and also a candidate to manage the team, will not be returning to the coaching staff. Thus the curse is lifted.

The Yankees lost the 1981 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2. In 1982 Don Mattingly was called up to play first base. He went on to a stellar (all be it injury shortened) 14 year career. Coincidentally the Yankees went on a 14 year World Series and pennant drought. Despite the lack of winning Mattingly was and is one of the most beloved players (and my personal favorite player) ever to put on the pinstripes. And yet I’ve never been happier to see him take them off. The year after his retirement in 1995 the Yankees took down the Atlanta Braves to win their first series in 18 years. This started a run that everyone knows about. 6 World Series in 8 years, their last one being a losing effort to Marlins in 2003. Before the 2004 season Mattingly was hired as the Yankees hitting coach. The team has only eclipsed the first round of the playoffs once in the preceding 4 years. Obviously Don Mattingly is cursed, when you combine his aura with ARod’s you have a recipe for disaster. Or at least a recipe for losing wild card series to the Tigers.

A few hours ago I was unsure of the prospects for success in 2008. Alex Rodriguez opting out is a possible snowball that could mean losing the likes of Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada. Now I’m not worried at all, it’s a lock, the black Mattingly cloud has been lifted and soon the sun will be shining down on a last run in Yankee Stadium.

A New Curse?

There is no getting around the fact that the Yankees have been horrendous to start the season; 9-14 in April, 6.5 games behind the Red Sox at the end of the first month. This has led to a lot of speculation over the weekend that Joe Torre could lose his job, which is a ridiculous idea. This story was clearly a fabrication of the New York media desperate to rattle a few cages and create a story where there isn’t one. I guess since Alex Rodriguez is smiling, hitting home runs, and not sunbathing shirtless in central park that have to talk about something. The pitching staff is decimated by injury. In the first season series with the Red Sox the team put up 6, 5, and 6 runs and were swept. With a healthy staff that type of run support is worth at least two wins. I don’t think Joe Torre should be taking the blame for Carl Pavano faking another injury (PS that guy has the heart of a jellyfish). There have been claims that he has mismanaged the bullpen also but what is a manager supposed to do when their starters can’t make it out of the 5th? Mike Myers is not a two inning pitcher. Mike Myers is good for two things: getting one lefty out a game and doing hilarious Scottish accents. I mean, when you’re forced to trot out Colter Bean in a close game you know things aren’t going well.

But wait, there’s a silver lining to all the injuries, a ray of light is peeking through the clouds, Phil Hughes is coming up to replace an injured starter. The best Yankee pitching prospect since He Who Must Not Be named (even though I can’t say his name I will because I realize not everyone is a big a fan as I am, I’m talking about Brien Taylor, I just wanted to emphasize what a disaster he was) is coming up to save the day. And at the same time Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, and Jeff Karstens are coming off the disabled list to finally fill out the rotation. Boy things are looking up. Oh wait what’s that, Jeff Karstens broke his leg on the first pitch of the game Sunday? That sucks but he’s only the 5th starter, he can be replaced. Besides Phil Hughes is throwing a gem tonight. A no hitter into the 7th and he’s absolutely carving up the Texas Rangers. SON OF A BITCH. He pulled his hamstring and is out 4 to 6 weeks. Christ. Hey Yankees training staff, what did I just say? Are we sure the Yankees aren’t the cursed team now? I’m still not convinced that Johnny Damon wasn’t some sort of secret Red Sox agent sent over to covertly ruin the Yankees.

It Could Always Be Worse

As a fan of the Yankees you learn to get used to a few things. For example you find that you constantly have to defend your fandom (I don’t think that’s a word, but fanaticism didn’t seem appropriate) because apparently it’s impossible to actually be a fan of a winning team, naturally you’re fair-weather, bandwagon hopping fan. I always find this annoying because I sort of take it as someone insulting my integrity. Only a douche bag starts routing for a team once they win a championship, trust me I know, I live in Maryland (incidentally big game this weekend huh, also there was an alarming number of red B’s popping up after 2004, but whatever). I also have to hear a lot about the ownership being evil, buying championships, and ruining it for small market teams, etc., etc. All this is just stupid, I could argue for days on that subject, and I doubt I would change anyone’s mind, so I won’t bother.

The thing that always bothered me the most though is when people route against them. I never understood the pleasure people got out of seeing a team lose in the playoffs when the team they route for didn’t even sniff the post season. Like that team’s season just became more successful because the Yankees only made it to the ALCS instead of winning the World Series. Guess what, it didn’t, and I still got to see 10 extra games of my favorite team, during the most exciting time of the year, while your favorite team was doing the same thing you were, watching at home.

I didn’t understand that sentiment at all until Saturday. The Redskins were 5-11, a total embarrassment, but it’s hard to express what a joy it was watching Tony Romo, the Cowboys savior, botch the snap of a chip shot field goal that would have advanced them to the next round of the playoffs. Thank you Tony, you made the Redskins debacle that much more tolerable for the next 9 months. That is until they begin their next campaign to cause me to have stroke and/or go bald prematurely.