The NFL/MLB "all these teams have no chance" comparison is specious. A football season is almost exactly one-tenth as long as a baseball season, 16-162. The math must be adjusted accordingly. All those "almost" teams in the NFL are precisely as close to a playoff berth as a baseball team that finishes 10 or 20 games behind in the standings. No baseball team that starts 2-6 is officially dead in the water for the year.

Competitive balance rock your world? I believe it was 2 seasons ago when every single team in baseball finished with a record above .400, but below .600. This clumping had never occurred before.

Meanwhile, the NFL's television ratings have dropped in 7 of the past 9 seasons (and one of the "up" years was a whopping +0.1). Many observers attribute this downward drift to the random, faceless "spin the wheel" system built into the contracts and salary cap. It's a setup in which successful teams collapse, and doormat teams ascend, with numbing regularity. Which is great for the team that "gets its turn" and its 2-season run. But it's ongoing dominant franchises that sell a sport, and drive its overall popularity. You don't see the Lakers every week on NBC because the president of the network thinks Phil Jackson is a hottie.

Also, before you go celebrating football at baseball's expense, consider the gambling factor. Take away betting, and you'd see just how devoted the "true" fanbase would be for pro football.

It's endlessly astonishing, the way people resent athletes' high salaries. Like anybody ever bought a Yankees ticket because they really wanted to go to the ballpark and see George Steinbrenner own.

It’s your opinion that my shit is stupid so it’s my opinion that it was an attack on my person. There are ways of disagreeing in the real world Kingtit but then again maybe it’s me I guess I forget about the witty banter that goes on here, my apologies for being sensitive

I've never said the mass quantities of stuff you post is stupid so I guess we have a difference of opinions I have a point of view that you disagree with and you have no manners or class.

So back to the point how did that Toronto Pitching staff due on those off Cy-Young award winning days ? Could Toronto afford to throw away Raul Mondesi like the Yankees did ? Would something like that happen with a salary cap, you know a level playing field ?

After seeing your opinions on baseball I'm not sure how much I trust your opinion on anything.



Before, I didn't say the mass quantities of stuff you post is stupid, just your opinions on baseball v football, which are very stupid. Now, though, I see that all your opinions are stupid.

Well, we've worn out this discussion. It was fun (and bizarre) wading through your rambling, barely punctuated run on sentences. There really isn't a reason to continue bickering. I don't want to get into a flame war with you so I'm finished with this topic.

It makes little sense to criticize the Blue Jays, or the salary structure of all major league baseball, for the fact that Toronto only had one Cy Young caliber pitcher on its staff in 2003. Even if you could get away with underpaying them, the most elite pitchers don't tend to clump on one team very often. Not with 80 starters in the AL.

Especially since the Blue Jays just let the inexpensive free agent Estaban Loaiza leave for Chicago in the offseason. Think about it. The 2002 Blue Jays had both the 1st- and 2nd-place pitchers in the 2003 Cy Young balloting. When's the last time the big-money Yankees or Braves or Red Sox or Mets or Dodgers were in that position? (Without doing the research to doublecheck, I believe that Johnson-Schilling were only the second Top 2 Cy Young pairing to be teammates, following the 1974 Dodgers' Mike Marshall & Andy Messersmith.)

The money gap is a big problem, but trying to tack it onto a "how did that Toronto Pitching staff do on those off Cy-Young award winning days?" argument is misguided. The issues are unrelated in a meaningful way. I'm sure the 1910-1925 Washington Senators' W-L record wasn't a thing of beauty on Walter Johnson's off days.

Historically, MLB is in one of its MOST competitive periods as far as multiple teams going far. Of course, a lot of that is due to having 6 more postseason slots. If the Florida Marlins were playing in the 1970s, they'd have no championships.