| Another baseball season is on the way | | | | Of course, this has an affect on fan |
| and-for the most part-we all pretty much | | | | interest. When living in a city like |
| know which teams will have a shot at the | | | | Kansas City or Tampa, baseball is almost |
| playoffs. Teams like the Pirates, Devil | | | | like a side-show, a sort of weird |
| Rays, Royals, etc., have no shot at | | | | interest. Then other people will pretend |
| entering the playoffs and this is before | | | | such cities simply have no passion for |
| the season has started. That is nothing | | | | the sport while the lack of a real |
| short of a disgrace. | | | | chance of winning is the real issue. |
| For all the talk about "balance" in | | | | Check out how fast New York fans desert |
| baseball, the economic disparity is | | | | their teams if even an average year is |
| still way too great. The New York | | | | being had; and New York is a big |
| Yankees, of course, lead the "payroll | | | | baseball town. |
| party" with a ridiculous 208 million | | | | Commissioner Bud Selig has done a |
| dollar payroll based on the 2005 | | | | credible job in at least doing something |
| numbers. The Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers, | | | | regarding the payroll disparity. It has |
| Angels-while having high payrolls-are no | | | | brought some balance to the league. |
| where near the Yankees. | | | | However, much is to be done. The league |
| Many will point to the Chicago White Sox | | | | cannot just pretend people from certain |
| winning the World Series last year. | | | | areas "just don't like baseball" when in |
| While it is true the Sox were not among | | | | past years they had loved it. The Royals |
| the top-tier teams regarding payroll, | | | | had a large fan base for years. The |
| they did have a payroll around 75 | | | | Pirates had a solid following for years |
| million dollars... not too shabby. | | | | as well. But when your heart is cut out, |
| Looking at the team payrolls from last | | | | what do you expect? When your team is |
| year, that number would put them in the | | | | among the bottom five spenders year |
| top 50% of team payrolls. However, the | | | | after year, what does one expect? |
| real problem comes when trying to keep a | | | | If this issue is avoided or at least not |
| team together. Keeping a team together | | | | pursued with vigor, expect the same |
| for an extended period of time becomes | | | | teams to be in the playoffs. There will |
| very hard. The Florida Marlins are the | | | | always be an exception here and there. |
| "poster child" for that one. | | | | To actually predict who is going to be |
| Let's face it: When you are a team like | | | | in the playoffs and who has no shot |
| the Yankees you can keep coming back. | | | | before a season starts is close to being |
| Not winning a world series becomes a | | | | fixed. That is known as wrestling. Or is |
| "bad" year. For so many other teams | | | | it baseball? |
| getting to the playoffs is like a dream. | | | | |