CHAMPAIGN, IL (Chambana Today) – Look. Major League Baseball is brutal. It’s hard to play. It’s hard to evaluate players and construct a roster. It’s hard to navigate a 162-game season. It’s hard to win. It’s hard to win consistently, but it seems especially hard for our favorite teams in the Midwest over the last decade or so. The teams we know and love have been uninspiringly average or “mid” as the young-ins would say.
This mid-ness is starting to wear thin on fans and a lot of it has to do with a perceived complacency from many of these organizations with the mediocre baseball to which they are exposing their loyal fans. Looking at Major League Baseball viewership overall, there has been a slight increase in viewership and attendance over the last few years. Some of that is most likely due to recent and impactful rule changes (pitcher/batter time limits, relief pitcher requirements, extra innings format, etc.) But as a Midwesterner, the MLB teams/organizations in our part of the country have given little reason to be enthusiastic about the game, and the novelty of new rules isn’t enough to keep fans tuning in or showing up to the ballpark.
As a Cincinnati Reds fan, I feel the disappointment of my fellow National League and American League major league baseball fans. It’s rare for me to sympathize with Cubs and Cardinals fans, but I do. It’s hard for me to speak to a Chicago White Sox fan, as this season has been, and very well may be, the worst season in the history of the MLB. The last World Series Championships from the NL and AL Central were the Cubs in 2016 and the Royals in 2015. Those teams haven’t been close to a World Series since, and no other teams from the central divisions have even been close. I mean, obviously, teams have won those divisions and made the playoffs or snuck in via the wild card, but I think it’s fair to say that none of those teams were considered genuine contenders, and it played out as such. The aggravating thing is that while all regions have a claim to be baseball-centric, none has a more compelling case than some of our favorite area teams. The Cincinnati Reds were the first professional baseball team in history. St. Louis has long been labeled a “baseball town.” The Cubs have an extensive history, including Wrigley Field, etc. Heck, this region of the country is where Field of Dreams was based. The Midwest is most certainly baseball country.
The most aggravating thing is to witness these organizations often fail their loyal fans by taking advantage of that loyalty via penny-pinching and price-gouging ticket pricing/food/drink costs etc., only to say they are strapped for cash or are being fiscally responsible. The least lucrative organization in these divisions is a multi-billion-dollar entity. They ain’t broke. Baseball is tricky. There’s no secret formula that guarantees success. Still, it’s become too apparent that MLB organizations in the Midwest, in some part, have used the loyalty of their fanbases to milk them of their hard-earned time and money to line their own pockets. For being so “cash strapped,” Midwestern organizations sure have lacked the creativity or ‘want to” needed to negotiate big contracts like the Dodgers did to add the game’s best player, Shohei Ohtani.
Anyway, fellow Central Division fans, I feel your pain. Here’s to hoping our teams start trending from “mid” west to “mid” best before another decade passes.