Competitive balance is a big issue in MLB.
Not because there are some teams with not enough money to compete: we know that’s not the case because every MLB organization has enough resources to put together a nice offseason.
The problem is that some teams just don’t care about winning and prioritize making profit.
The Pittsburgh Pirates and the post-2019 Washington Nationals are two examples.
Another problem is that some squads don’t actually “go for it” (actually spending some resources) until they have multiple prospects “hit” and lots of contracts in pre-arbitration or arbitration.
The Oakland Athletics are a clear example of the latter category.
Some teams don’t even try, with the objective of securing high draft picks.
This tanking strategy is a notorious problem.
ESPN senior reporter Buster Olney shed some light on some important facts about tanking.
“Acute team tanking has been a problem for baseball for a decade — without public complaint from other teams, without even out-loud acknowledgement of the practice. Now the Mets and Padres spend big and they’re forming a special committee? Really?,” he tweeted.
Acute team tanking has been a problem for baseball for a decade — without public complaint from other teams, without even out-loud acknowledgement of the practice. Now the Mets and Padres spend big and they're forming a special committee? Really?
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 20, 2023
He’s right: we all see when a team is not trying to win, but nobody says anything.
Not one owner has been questioned about it, or come clean about the strategy.
What the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets are doing (to lesser extents, the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, and Texas Rangers) should not be considered special: it should be viewed as standard procedure.
It’s okay not to spend fortunes every year, but there are organizations that haven’t done it in a long time.
It’s a problem that the league will have to address, but nothing will come out of it if the owners don’t cooperate.
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