SPLIT BASEBALL INTO THE REAL AND THE PHONY — WITH LOVE FOR JUDGE AND PCA
The smart way to enjoy a season is by dismissing teams that don’t pay to win before the CBA expires, allowing us to embrace another huge start from Aaron Judge and the emergence of Pete Crow-Armstrong
The best way to approach this Major League Baseball season is by slashing half the teams as minor-leaguers, including the Athletics and Devil Rays, who play in Tee Ball flytraps when the Savannah Bananas are more preferable. The Miami Marlins average 12,000 fans. The White Sox are bringing back an organist for their 125th anniversary, with 125 more losses possible, which could be surpassed by the Colorado Rockies.
The Angels don’t have Mike Trout — again — and the Pirates report progress in the case of Kavan Markwood, who fell 21 feet from the Clemente Wall after pouring beer on himself to celebrate a rare victory. This after the team threw personalized Bucco Bricks purchased by fans into a dump. Already, before Mother’s Day, eight franchises have lost 20 or more games. A case can be made for mass relegation, or at least free nights when organizations supply tickets, parking and concessions just to maintain interest.
What’s happening, of course, is a destructive financial gulf between the few teams that spend to win championships and the many that shouldn’t claim to be major-leaguers. The stomach churns when 30 teams are displayed in standings when most are ripping off fans and should end seasons now. When the Dodgers visited the Marlins the last two evenings, the difference in payroll between the franchises was more than $400 million. Should fans be given a chance to pitch or hit this weekend when the White Sox host the Marlins, where a Hogwarts hat isn’t enough to lure emotionally stable people in Chicago.
We’re watching the sport in its penultimate season before the collective bargaining agreement expires. When it does, team owners will be mean in pushing for a salary cap. Knowing the powers of the Players Association, MLB has a better chance of fading away with zero certainty about a broadcasting future. A lockout will happen. An entire season could disappear. Said Tony Clark, the MLBPA’s executive director: “All 30 teams have the means and opportunity to compete by acquiring new talent, investing in internal talent, or both. Clubs that have made that investment in winning, in big markets and small, have reaped the rewards both on and off the field. All teams that pursue excellence should be celebrated, not criticized.”
The losers should get lost. Expansion? Try contraction.
“Something’s got to happen. The competitive imbalance in baseball has gotten to the point of ludicrosity now. It’s an unregulated industry,” said Rockies owner Dick Monfort, who has spent $142.3 million for a 6-28 record. “The only way to fix baseball is to do a salary cap and a floor. With a cap comes a floor. For a lot of teams, the question is: ‘How do they get to the floor?’ ’’
Said Philadelphia star Bryce Harper, speaking highly of the Dodgers, whose payroll will exceed $500 million after luxury taxes: “I don't know if people will like this, but I feel like only losers complain about what they're doing. I think they are a great team and a great organization.”
So, let’s focus on teams and sluggers who have any chance to upend the Dodgers, who’ve bought enough reinforcements to maintain a 24-12 mark. You have heard of one creature, Aaron Judge, who might be the greatest right-handed hitter of our lives, and you haven’t heard of the other one, Pete Crow-Armstrong, who sounds like the lead singer of the Lumineers.
It’s too early to suggest Judge and the New York Yankees, who faded to the Dodgers in the World Series, are capable of returning to the postseason after Gerrit Cole only found darkness in Tommy John surgery. But his slashes look like the stuff of gangs — .412/.503/.772 — and prompt anger from fans who saw Juan Soto accept $765 million from the crosstown Mets and say during his slow start: “I had the best hitter in baseball [Judge] hitting behind me. I was getting more attacked and more pitches in the strike zone, less intentional walks and things like that. I was pitched differently last year.”
No one is hearing Judge beefing without Soto. “I’m not really going to go back and forth with this," he said. "He’s got probably one of the best hitters in the game behind right now in what (Pete) Alonso is doing. He just needs to keep being himself. He's going to be just fine.” What Judge has done is pull attention away from Shohei Ohtani with his 12 home runs and 34 RBIs. The Triple Crown watch can begin.
Crow-Armstrong is the son of actors in Los Angeles. His mother is Ashley Crow, and his father is Matthew Armstrong. His jersey almost must be stretched to fit his name, and in Chicago, where the other sports teams fail, his presence is almost godlike. Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, told him to dump No. 52 and change to No. 4 — “A fast guy” digit. In a 17-game stretch for one of the game’s hottest offenses, PCA hit nine home runs and drove in 21 with six stolen bases and a .343 average. Who knows what color he’ll dye his hair? He is a California freak show dropped into Chicago.
PCA has been a monster as the Cubs lead the majors with 222 runs. They are 22-15, and the other day in Milwaukee, he rubbed fingers together after crossing first base on a home-run trot. Was this a money call? He was having fun with reliever Daniel Palencia in the bullpen. “Pitchers drop their hats for home-run calls,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And (Palencia) was smart, and he came over and asked me what at-bat I was going to hit a home run. And I said the second at-bat. Yeah, Danny was freaking out for a good reason over there.”
“This is star-level production, no doubt about it,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s been the power lately, but great players can affect the game in a lot of ways, and Pete has that ability. Some days it’s the defense, some days it’s the baserunning. He’s in a good place now.”
He is allowed to take charge, day after day. Baseball needs charmers. “People have just given me the green light to go be myself and kind of without question,” said Crow-Armstrong. “So, grateful for that because it’s probably a different story if I am getting held back.” What’s sad about the Cubs is that their owner, Tom Ricketts, isn’t inclined to produce $500 million for a Kyle Tucker extension and spend for Crow-Armstrong, who has turned down a $75 million extension. The Cubs have won only one World Series in 116 years. They are blessed with stars. Pay up, Tom, or sell.
A change in the CBA only would benefit PCA. “It’s at the top of my list of concerns about what’s occurring in the sport,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said. “We need to determine whether there are things that can be done to allay those kinds of concerns and make sure we have a competitive and healthy game going forward.”
Competitive and healthy. That isn’t baseball in 2025.
But at least the National League has not drooped. In addition to the Cubs and 23-14 Mets, the West features the Padres, Giants and Diamondbacks — all within five games of the Dodgers. Not that they are hopeful.
“You see one team with a payroll that is five times their competitors, the chances of that team over the less financially supported teams — they’re going to win,” said Ken Kendrick, managing general partner of the Diamondbacks.
The idea is to split baseball into the real and the phony. Half the teams don’t exist.
Enjoy what is left.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.