Baseball Doesn't Have a Dodgers Problem

Every few years baseball has the same argument. The Dodgers spend too much. The Yankees buy championships. Small-market teams can't compete. Then someone says the answer is a salary cap.

No.

I'm a Dodgers fan. I've been one long enough to remember the McCourt years and the bankruptcy. Most fans followed the Dodgers through the sports pages. I followed them through PACER. I remember reading bankruptcy filings to learn what was happening to my baseball team.

I've seen what bad ownership looks like. I've also seen what happens when ownership decides winning is worth the investment.

The Dodgers' owners made that choice. They spend on scouting. They spend on player development. They spend to keep stars in Los Angeles. They understand that championships fill seats, sell jerseys, drive television ratings, and increase the value of the franchise.

Today the Dodgers aren't just a baseball team. They're a global brand. From Tokyo to Seoul to Mexico City and beyond, they've become one of the most recognizable franchises in sports. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because ownership invested in excellence.

That isn't the problem.

The problem is the owners who make the opposite choice. We all know who they are. They collect revenue-sharing checks, raise ticket prices, and promise tomorrow. Then they send another losing club onto the field. Worse, too many of them ask taxpayers to build shiny new stadiums because they won't risk their own capital. That isn't entrepreneurship. That's corporate welfare wearing a baseball cap.

Then they ask their fans to fall in love with young stars, only to let them leave when it's time to pay them. Those stars don't stop being great players. They simply sign with organizations willing to invest in winning. The Dodgers. The Yankees. The Phillies. The Rangers.

Then the owners who let them leave complain that baseball isn't fair. It's hard to take that seriously.

Some owners have learned that losing is profitable. That is baseball's real problem. They choose not to spend. They choose not to keep their stars. Then they blame the Dodgers for doing what they refused to do.

So why are we talking about punishing the clubs that actually try to win? A salary cap won't make bad owners better. It will simply make good owners spend less. It won't create rivalries. It won't create great teams. It won't fill empty ballparks. It lowers the ceiling for owners willing to invest and gives everyone else another excuse not to.

If Major League Baseball wants its fans back, it should demand more from its owners, not less from the Dodgers. If you want the privilege of owning a franchise, you should accept the obligation to field a competitive team. Revenue sharing should come with responsibility. Invest in your roster. Invest in your farm system. Keep the stars your fans paid to watch develop. Try to win.

But that would require leadership.

I don't expect much from Rob Manfred. The commissioner works for the owners, and lately he seems to speak for them far more often than he speaks for the fans.

Give him his due. The pitch clock made the game faster. The automated strike zone is coming, and it will make the game fairer. Both are good. But those weren't his ideas. They came from a competition committee and from players who wanted a better game. Manfred administered them. That's management. It isn't leadership, and it isn't the same thing as protecting the integrity of the game.

Because when integrity was actually on the line, baseball used to act.

This was the sport that banned the Black Sox. This was the sport that banned Pete Rose. The integrity of the game mattered more than the box score.

Then came the Houston Astros. Managers lost their jobs. Draft picks disappeared. The players kept their rings. The championship stayed in the record books as though it had been won honestly. Manfred refused to vacate the title or even mark it with an asterisk.

See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.

Fans remember. Dodgers fans certainly do.

That's the point. A faster game is nice. A fair strike zone is nice. But a commissioner is supposed to guard something bigger than pace of play, and this one keeps choosing the owners over the game.

Baseball doesn't have a Dodgers problem. It has an ownership problem. It has a leadership problem. Until those are fixed, no collective bargaining agreement, no salary cap, and no commissioner will make baseball America's Game again.