The A.L East enjoys a rarity in professional sports. They have the two best teams always fighting for the top and dominating the American League year after year by putting together great teams that scare opposing teams much to the delight of the home and away crowds. Every where they go stadiums sell out or at least give a significant boost to the attendance and always provide exciting baseball to watch, no matter time of year it is. The success the A.L East has is unparalleled in sports. Which brings up the debate:
Is this fair to the other teams in the division? Should it really be like this, two teams dominating so much? Is it time to entertain the thought of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees going into different divisions' to try to create a sense of equality in the American League? Or go a step farther and put them into different leagues?
If you had asked me before the 2008 season I would have said yes, we need a change. At that point, only the Orioles had managed to win the division outside the Bronx Bombers and the BoSox in 13 seasons. I thought it was ridiculous that two teams would be allowed to destroy other teams in the A.L and be virtually guaranteed a playoff spot. How is it fair when two teams that have most of the money in the league gets to beat up on their opponents all the time. Not to mention how boring it is to always have the same teams in the playoffs. From 1995 to 2010, only two teams not named the Red Sox or Yankees have won the A.L East. Baltimore won it in 1997 and Tampa Bay won it in 2008 and 2010. In 15 years, 12 titles were won by them. To go even further. Since the wild card berth was added to the playoff format in 1995, a A.L East team as won it 12 times. Of those 12 times only one team other than Boston or New York won it. That was Baltimore in 1996. That means that in the 15 years of the Wild Card era. Only five seasons finished without both the New York Yankee's and the Boston Red Sox playing playoff baseball. Five times in 15 years. In fact, since the '95 season either New York or Boston has always been in the playoffs. When you think about it this seems like a little overkill and needs to stop.
But what if all this success is really good for the teams in the division and baseball as a whole? Should we be looking at Boston and New York as the bad guys or the heroes of baseball? Take a step back and look at the big picture, not as a fan of a team but as a fan of baseball.
Critics and fans of other teams always paint the Yankee's and Red Sox as bad guys because of the money, as if the team with the most money wins the World Series every year. When 2008 came, Tampa Bay finally proved that you do not need to spend much money if you grow from the bottom up with good solid scouting, coaching and player development. They showed that it doesn't matter if Boston has hundreds of millions of dollars to spend , not only that but they earned it all, so they can spend it. It doesn't matter if it's not fair they can get all those high profiled players. Sports business is not fair. The Rays built from the ground up and used less money than anyone in the American League. The Rays only spent $43,820,597, which ranked 29th in the league. The payroll myth has been busted.
Come again? Say what?
The Rays won the division with $43 million? While the Yankees spent $209 million. Boston spent $133. Even the Toronto Blue Jays spent $97 million. And the Rays won it and made it to the World Series?
When you look what the Red Sox and Yankees bring to the table for the MLB, you notice that they are one of the best thing to happen to baseball. Not only from a business standpoint but a fans point of view as well. It gives the league a benchmark for excellence, you know you are performing at high level when you have matched or bettered their records or if you have taken them out the playoff picture. They are a model for success. They spend the money to make their teams great which has always been the biggest knock on the Yankees & Red Sox. Well hold on a moment. How do you think companies like Wal-Mart or Home Depot got big? The spend a lot of money to market themselves and get in the public eye, backing it with all the products that customer want and the top pro teams do the same thing. There is a saying that you have to spend money to make money and baseball, in no shape, way or form is different. Baseball has a business side that determines the quality of a team. And the market themselves very well teams do doesn't just benefit them, it benefits the league as a whole. From the money small market teams make from the luxury tax to the money they make when the Yankees come to town, all combine to make a pretty penny that you do not get when say, Oakland visits for a weekend series. The Yankees paid $26 million in 2009 and $18 million in 2010 and have paid it every year since 2003. That is injecting a lot of much needed cash into teams that do not make a lot. The A.L East teams benefit from having the Yankees and the Red Sox coming to their home diamond and generating much needed income from ticket and merchandise sales at the stadium not to mention excitement for otherwise boring seasons. If they lost that income then we would be talking about how much money they lost now.
The also bring exposure to the game. Is there anybody in the U.S. that doesn't know either the Red Sox or the Yankees? Aren't these teams household names in most of the world? Try to find a NBA or NHL team that people in Japan know their top teams. This exposure brings people to the games, which in turn brings cash flow.
Instead of complaining that they have to face these teams so much because it's not fair, other teams should be upset that they DON'T get to face the Red Sox as much. That could be money in their pockets. Think of the Pittsburgh Pirates or the San Diego Padres, for example. I am sure they would not mind playing either team if it meant a full stadium and income. I will also note that most people do not care if it is or not. This is professional sports, it's a business. Fair is not part of the equation.
From what the Bronx Bombers and BoSox bring to the game of baseball, it's clear that they have a such a profound positive impact on baseball that is in the best interest of everyone is baseball. In my mind that makes them heroes in baseball.
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