MLB’s Competition Problem
At its core professional baseball exists because it is a competition. In fact, its entire existence is predicated on the competition between two teams and the desire fans feel to root for their team to win said competition. This isn’t news to anyone, those who have been baseball fans longer than five minutes know that the competition aspect is of the utmost importance to their enjoyment of the sport. Without competition, you’re really only left with a collection of people in uninspired pajamas tossing a ball around.
The above thought is brought to you by the Colorado Rockies trading Nolan Arenado to the St. Louis Cardinals. Trades themselves are not the problem but rather the issue is what certain trades represent.
The Arenado trade represents the Rockies sending the second-best third baseman in the National League West (Manny Machado says hi) away because they had no intention of competing anytime soon. This is after they signed Arenado to a large deal under the promise that they would contend. Instead, they floundered and continually upset their star player with their cheap and non-competitive ways. The team-created problem came to a head this past week when the Rockies traded Arenado and gave the Cardinals $50 million to take him off their hands.
The biggest takeaway that people should have from the Arenado trade is to question why we should care about the Major League Baseball product any longer. After all, the Rockies aren’t the only team engaging in non-competitive tactics. Granted, most teams aren’t announcing their intention to field a crappy team with the fine print of “here’s a boatload of money to take our all-star while we’re at it!” Still, as it sits right now it feels about right to say that at best five-six of the current MLB teams are actively trying to do what they can to put the best team possible on the baseball diamond. If that is the case, is there actually any competition to be found in the MLB ranks?
The argument could be made that teams have become competitive at trying to save money. They no longer seek World Series trophies. Instead, they put all their focus into cutting as much payroll as they can. Teams are squaring off not on the diamond but in boardrooms where the ball and bat have been replaced with the pen and ledger book. Let’s be honest with ourselves, as fans and viewers of the MLB product how does that sort of competition benefit us?
The easy and simple answer is that we do not derive any benefit from such a competition. Ticket prices continue to soar, concessions cost more, television/streaming availability is very restrictive and at the same time teams are telling people that they don’t intend to field a competitive ballclub. This isn’t a new trend, but what is new is how lopsided the scale has become in favor of the teams who do not want to compete on the playing field. MLB no longer feels like a sport where the winners and losers are determined by the ballgames we watch. It’s all a dog and pony show meant to distract from the real battle in the boardroom. 
I don’t have any time for the boardroom competition and it’s not like MLB provides adequate on-the-field competition to make up for my lack of interest in the boardroom stuff. I’m not alone, and sooner or later there will be consequences for the lack of competition found in MLB these days. When that time comes I’m sure MLB will play the victim over the results of their years-long campaign to make baseball as disinteresting as possible. It will fall on deaf ears, without competition most fans will have checked out by that point.
