Walton: No runs, no hits, only errors

With major League Baseball’s postseason in full swing, and Game One of the World Series coming up next Friday, it might be a good time to suggest that you savor what’s left of the baseball season like a fine wine. Embrace the World Series like it’s the end of baseball for a long time, because it just might be.

We are just six weeks away from the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement between the owners of the 30 major league teams and the Major League Baseball Players Association. And the innocent parties in all this, the fans, have to wonder if there will be baseball next year at all. As usual, the fans will be of no concern to the combatants at the bargaining table.

The owners are seeking a salary cap that will finally restrain the exorbitant salaries major leaguers are earning these days. But a salary cap is a poison pill to the players, who want no restrictions placed on what they can earn if an owner is willing to pay it. If either side is bluffing, it is not yet evident.

How chaotic has the major leagues’ salary structure gotten?

Let’s take a look at the American League Central Division, where our two “local” teams, the Guardians and the Tigers play.

Next year’s projected salaries for the Guardians, according to Cot’s Contracts, will be $91 million. You would expect money at that level would put the team at or near the top among the division’s payroll leaders, given the team’s success in contending for a division title every year. You would be wrong. The Guardians will be last in the division in payroll again next season. In first? The Tigers, with a projected $136.5 million.

Consider that my favorite player, Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez, earns $18 million a year to suit up for the Guardians. You or I could live handsomely indeed for that kind of money. Eighteen million is certainly not chump change, unless you realize that Ramirez’s salary is only one-tenth of what the Los Angeles Dodgers pay as a luxury tax penalty for having such a lavishly compensated team. That’s right. The Dodgers pay $183 million a year not to a player but as a penalty for having a $522 million roster payroll.

You could argue that Jose Ramirez is worth far more on the open market than he is getting, but he loves Cleveland and doesn’t want to go anywhere else. He may be the only major league superstar willing to pass up the massive payday he could command in New York or L.A.

Do not feel sorry for him. He makes more money than all of his Cleveland teammates combined. Cleveland continues to do more with less, even though a World Series championship remains as elusive as ever.

Just as an aside, it’s shocking to hear Ramirez frequently described as a “possible” or “likely” Hall of Famer. If he quit the game today, he would deserve his HOF plaque in his first year of eligibility five years from now. He already has the HOF-worthy accomplishments, and he will only continue to build on them, despite having an off year this season — at least by his standards.

Here’s something else to consider when pondering major league salaries. The four teams that have been vying for a spot in the World Series show the disparity of payroll. The Dodgers lead all of baseball, of course, in salaries and luxury taxes. Every one of their starting pitchers would be an ace, or nearly so, for many other teams. One of them, the newly acquired Tarik Skubal, is one of the best in baseball.

Conversely the Milwaukee Brewers rank 19th, while the two American League teams still standing are near the bottom of the payroll rankings. The Tampa Bay Rays rank 28th in payroll, and the Cleveland Guardians are at the bottom, at No. 30.

Those four teams have 18 players on their rosters who earn at least $10 million each. Guess how many of them play for the Dodgers? Fourteen.

So payroll craziness is not only a real thing, it is only getting worse. Clearly this cannot continue indefinitely when a family of four must pay a couple hundred dollars to go to a baseball game, thereby chipping in — even if involuntarily — to help make the players incredibly wealthy and the owners even richer.

Please don’t consider this another tired lament about the good old days of baseball, although I remember as a kid buying a scorecard and pencil for 15 cents at the ballpark. The ballpark grass was greener then. Now it’s the paychecks. Sorry, I needed to get that out of my system.

Major League Baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement, or CBA, will expire at midnight . 2. One minute later, unless someone on one side or the other discovers a sudden and uncharacteristic sliver of sanity, owners will initiate a lockout that will shut down the sport. Spring training will be the first casualty, then the regular season itself will be compromised, postponed, or even canceled.

Imagine all the livelihoods that will be impacted — the folks in spring training cities who need the work, the guy selling T-shirts from a cart outside major league ballparks, the waiters at the restaurants nearby.

What a shame. The question we are left with is simple. Can money actually buy happiness? Let’s ask the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the meantime, enjoy the games that remain. Who knows when the next one will be?

From the source Mr. Walton is the retired editor and vice president of The Blade. His column appears every other Sunday. Contact him at [email protected].