Now Playing Second Base - Chicken Little

 I'm bradley and it's my job to keep YOU from being the Sucker At The Table

Yeah, Chicken Little is back in the lineup. All the squawking, all the talkin', it's all there. The Dodgers just signed Kyle Tucker to a $240 million multi-year contract and right away, everyone's screaming about how the end of baseball is near, the Dodgers are destroying the game.

Haven't I heard this nonsense before? 

First, it was Marvin Miller who was going to destroy the game by unionizing major league  players. 

Then came Curt Flood challenging the reserve clause - a CLEAR indication baseball was done. 

Oh let's not forget how George Steinbrenner was  going to destroy baseball with his ridiculous spending on free agents? No one could compete with the Yankees  and their unlimited financial resources, right? Wrong - since 001, they've won one - yes, one - world series. Otherwise - buckeye. Nanda. Nuttin'

In 50 years of baseball, there have been 23 different teams winning the World Series despite all the sky is falling predictions and sentiment. But that's not stopping people from starting it up all over again.

The Dodgers, one of baseballs elite organizations, have two world series back to back.  Cue hater nation.

Yeah, how soon they forget . The Dodgers at one point, went 32 years without winning a World Series. Now in the last five years, they seem to have found the magic formula.

Is this the end of baseball? Of course Not. Baseball brings with it fickle angels who have ways of equalizing things. The Toronto Blue Jays were a few outs away from a world series victory. Luck favors the skilled and the Dodgers certainly had the skill players at the right time.

But the end of baseball? Nonsense. The Dodgers spent $240 on Kyle Tucker because they figured out a way to do it. Same with Ohtani, Freeman and others on the roster. 

Other owners haven't. Or just won't. Or they don't have the means to extend their debt load out ten years like the Dodgers.  The L.A. folk have sold out tomorrow for today - they'll be paying Ohtani while he's bouncing grandkids on his knee, showing off his MVP trophies and World Series rings.  He'll be Bobby Bonita on steroids. 

Others like the Mets and Yankees and Cubs and White Sox and Angels all have the means - they just suck at picking the wrong guys to back. So their money ends up buying them maybe a playoff date - and not much else. 

So baseball is not going to die. Sure the teams with the most money usually end up playing in October and November. But so do teams that don't mortgage their futures - they just don't show up as often. Overall, baseball's future is in much graver hands when at the mercy of those who want to change the game. They're the ones who in the long run, will destroy baseball faster than a few money happy owners who love to raise trophies in November. 

Don't let anyone get you on the Chicken Little express and sell you the idea that money is causing the sky to fall. It's not, and it won't. Money and the players it buys both have a funny way of going south on you, just when you think you've spent yourself into a championship. Just ask Steve Cohen how all that spending is working out for him. Ditto Hal Steinbrenner

I'm bradley - don't let them make you, the sucker at the table