We asked the question a week ago: What three changes would you make if you became the commissioner of baseball?
Trust me. The answers run the gamut.
None of our faithful correspondents (or yours truly, for that matter) figure to ever reach that corner office in midtown Manhattan, even as a visitor. But it’s a reminder that not all ideas come from within the power structure, as well as a reminder that in a number of ways, MLB – and specifically commissioner Rob Manfred – has lost sight of the game’s core constituency.
Take, for example, disenfranchised fans in so many minor-league towns across America, following the MLB takeover and contraction of the minors in December 2020. In Lancaster, for instance, the fans of the California League JetHawks never even got a chance to say goodbye before their team was liquidated.
“He left 40 small towns in this country with empty stadiums and without their teams,” David Diaz of Tehachapi wrote. “This is where families who don’t live in the big city would take their kids on a summer night. These were places where many foreign players got their first taste of what America truly is. These were the places where dreams were born.”
Jerry Carlson of Camarillo noted that additionally, the surviving teams in the California League found themselves downgraded from high Class A to low-A ball, swapping places with the Midwest League. Why?
Carlson also noted: “Inasmuch as MLB still enjoys an antitrust exemption, it is imperative that MLB enforce and re-establish a competitive playing environment. It means little if the Pittsburghs, Colorados, Oaklands of the world continue to be allowed to field teams that are not competitive.”
(And he suggests that a division winner shouldn’t have to face a divisional rival in the playoffs that “finished 10 to 15 games behind … the regular season outcomes have become almost meaningless.” I suspect Padres and Diamondbacks fans, to name two, would disagree.)
Others…
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