How do you get to know a Major League Baseball fan in Montreal? They are the ones who continue to check the MLB rankings daily despite the failed plan to revive the Expos.
For these people, baseball is the best part of summer. They will drive five, six or more hours to attend the games in Toronto, Boston, New York, or anywhere else on the East Coast of the United States.
On the competition front, football fans, on the other hand, will note that championship races have not been present in five of the six divisions this season.
Only the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves are still battling, with one week remaining on the regular schedule, for the top spot in the Eastern National League.
The Dodgers and Astros raise their hands
In the West, the dice were thrown in both the American and the National before the season began.
Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros were in robotic driving throughout the campaign. The gap that separates the Dodgers from their closest rival, the San Diego Padres, is more than 20 games.
For their part, the Astros hold a fifteen-game priority over the Seattle Mariners.
And it only took days before the champions of the New York Yankees of the East American and St. Louis Cardinals of the Central Division of the National League were confirmed.
Both teams never had to worry about being chased down.
It seems that the era of moneyball, this method put forward by the Oakland Athletics team, which relied on advanced statistics to hire free agents, is over.
The disparities between the rich and the less fortunate continue to deepen.
Many clubs appear as mere participants. The Colorado Rockies and athletics more than 40 games are off the lead in their respective divisions.
Seven teams, the Miami Marlins, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels, are one year behind, and thirty meet.
In over 20 games, we’ve found the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers and Padres. These qualifiers will remain under the new format introduced this year.
revealing study
A study conducted by Washington Post Before this campaign showed that the gaps were widening between the rich and the less fortunate.
In 2017, the average for the top eight MLB payrolls was $198.7 million. This was 2.3 times more than the average for the lowest eight budgets ($85.5 million).
The gap increased to 2.7 in 2020, the season in which the schedule was reduced from 162 to 60 matches due to the pandemic, and then to three times last season.
This year, the highest eight blocks averaged $228,775,358, compared to $72,012,158 for the lowest eight blocks, 3.17 times more.
Compared to other sports, the gap between the most expensive teams and those that should be more economical is twice that of the NBA and three times that of the NHL and NFL.
decades of failure
Many MLB teams fail to hold the 0.500 record for an extended period of time.
Since their last World Championship win in 1979, the Buccaneers have played below the so-called respect threshold 32 times, and that’s 20 times in a row (from 1993 to 2012).
The Reds have had 25 sub-0.500 seasons since their last major tournament in 1989 (34 seasons). We can continue like this with many other teams.
Unfortunately, there is a huge risk that it will always be. Because the players are determined not to accept a maximum salary.
Like their NHL teammates, the major league baseball players will wear advertising slogans on their uniforms and batting helmets starting next season.
This additional revenue will add $400 million annually to MLB’s coffers for four years.
These new developments, which are part of the five-year collective agreement signed earlier this year, had an immediate impact on the value of the teams, according to Economic Review accounts. Forbes.
The average value of the 30 formations is up 9% from last year, reaching an all-time high of $2.07 billion.
Marlin under a billion
The New York Yankees are worth $6 billion, second only to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys ($6.5 billion) globally.
Only one organization, in this case, the $990 million Miami Marlins, is below the billion dollar mark in rankings. Forbes.
For those who may have missed it, the number of playoff teams has increased from 10 to 12 this season in MLB.
The two best overall teams in each league will be awarded a farewell to the initial round.
The third division champions will face the sixth-placed clubs. The other series of the first round will be opposed by the 4th and 5th place teams.
As of yesterday, the series will start as follows:
Cleveland (3) vs. Seattle (6)
Toronto (4) vs. Tampa Bay (5)
St. Louis (3) vs. Philadelphia (6)
Atlanta (4) vs. San Diego (5)
All matches in the top three series will be played on the grounds of the top ranked teams.
In the American Division series (three of five), the Cleveland-Seattle duel winners will face the Yankees while the Toronto-Tampa Bay duel winners will face the Astros.
At The National, the winners of the St. Louis-Philadelphia series will face the New York Mets while the winners of the Atlanta-San Diego game will face the Dodgers.
Each league and world championship series will be four of seven.