Call me crazy, but I think it’s bad when teams that could choose to win are instead choosing to lose to save money. Blame COVID all you want, this isn’t happening in any other sport.
Other sports have salary caps, so it's a non-issue.
The NBA is the pioneer of tanking (at least for American pro sports).
The issue with MLB is that your just-prime and pre-prime players (I.e. the best players to invest in) are making relative peanuts. And unless the TV money dries up, the Marlins of the world will still be pulling in strong income so there's a big incentive to strip things down to cut costs and roll the dice with the younger players
Call me crazy, but I think it’s bad when teams that could choose to win are instead choosing to lose to save money. Blame COVID all you want, this isn’t happening in any other sport.
Other sports have salary caps, so it's a non-issue.
The NBA is the pioneer of tanking (at least for American pro sports).
They tank for draft position, not to save money. At least there's some value in that for fans (the prospect of dynamic young players being added to the roster).
In a holiday flurry of moves, they added Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Ha-seong Kim, and Victor Caratini, setting up what could be the most anticipated divisional race in recent memory. It’s a nice change of pace from teams that have practically issued press releases informing fans of just how much worse the product will be in 2021.
That’s not to say that ZiPS didn’t like the Padres before their latest series of moves. In fact, my labyrinthine tangle of algorithms thought that the boys in brown combined to make up the second-best team in the National League. But there was also a clear space between them and the reigning World Series champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, I’m not so sure.
Call me crazy, but I think it’s bad when teams that could choose to win are instead choosing to lose to save money. Blame COVID all you want, this isn’t happening in any other sport.
Other sports have salary caps, so it's a non-issue.
The NBA is the pioneer of tanking (at least for American pro sports).
They tank for draft position, not to save money. At least there's some value in that for fans (the prospect of dynamic young players being added to the roster).
Baseball players aren't usually playing right after drafted like other sports. Owners entice them with a small salary in order to have talent for a small salary later that is a an overall way way smaller salary than the talent is worth while the player is in his early to mid 20s prime. System is set up for the owners.
The NBA doesn't have teams on the verge of winning choosing to tank. The original point. They also have teams with 5 starters. One player in the draft can make a whole decade for a team.