The pennant races are heating up now that we’re in the dog days of August. It should be an exciting time for fans if you happen to be a fan of one of the big-market teams. If you’re not, well then I guess you’re waiting for football….
When is baseball going to wake up and implement a salary cap? It is a shame that the same big market teams have a chance to win every year and small market teams with a rich tradition like Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Cincinnati have no shot, none. A generation of fans growing up in those cities have no clue what it’s like to watch big games in September or October.
Why don’t they put in a salary cap? Because the people who run baseball are weak with no balls to stand up to the union. It’s the same reason they caved to the unions when it came to steroid testing and look how that’s worked out. And don’t give me the luxury tax argument either, or the Tampa Bay Rays as your argument, they won’t be able to sustain it once they have to pay these guys on their next contracts….
In the long run, this lack of competition between the haves and have nots is a much bigger threat to the game than the steroid era will be. The steroid era is an unfortunate black stain, but it will fade in time. The bigger issue is without a salary cap to level the playing field, baseball in small markets will die a slow death and millions of fans will leave baseball for good.