2021 MLB Season Thread

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

Well that MLB trade deadline was just about the most brutal off-the-field event I had to witness one of my teams go through. There is logic to what the Cubs did in trading away Rizzo, Bryant and Baez, and theoretically they could bring back one or two or all three guys this winter. But in reality, we know that is not going to happen.

What has happened here, is that the Ricketts family has turned their ownership of the Cubs into a massive real estate portfolio and media network that is to serve as a perpetual stream of cash for the long haul. That is the Ricketts' legacy in Chicago (along with a bunch of unseemly political nonsense), not the 2016 World Series, but turning the aging but charming Wrigley Field and neighborhood into a overpriced Disneyland experience. All of these investments have taken money away from baseball operations, and instead of doing right by the fans and the players who saved the franchise, this ownership is saving some money and are turning a big market, Top 5 most valuable team into a bottom 5 spending team. They cried the pandemic lead to "biblical losses." That didn't stop The Dodgers, SAN DIEGO PADRES, and other teams from going out and spending money on players. Its not that they don't have the money. Its that they don't want to spend it.

Now here we are. Being a Cubs was one thing I thought would never change about me. I have loved the team more than just about any other team in sports. Now I have to question whether I want to outwardly and financially support the team owned by a bunch of racist trump-sympathizers, who have made it impossibly expensive to go to games and have robbed all of the charm and grace out of those experiences. Seeing Yankees fans and Mets fans and Giants fans get to celebrate those players' successes on the new teams makes me feel ill, but I honestly want those three to dominate the league and have successes in their new homes because they deserve it.

I can't imagine I would be a fan of any other team more than I would be a fan of the Cubs. But I really might be on the verge of being one of those new-age fans who are fans of the player more than the team.   

Here's to hoping for Giants over Yankees in the World Series...