A major league baseball lockout next season seems inevitable., especially after the L.A. Dodger' acquisition of Cy Young pitcher Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers. The Dodgers have won two consecutive World Series championships and seem poised to win a third.
It appears grossly unfair that only some teams have the money and the resources to make such a deal. Without a cap system, there is a terrible imbalance. At the same time, however, I am very concerned about the damage a lockout will do to the game. Are the owners and the players considering how a lockout will hurt the fans?
The fans are not appreciated enough. I am on their side completely. The cost of attending a baseball game continues to increase. Many are forced to stay home and watch the games on television. Now, the greedy MLB is streaming games on Apple TV, so they won't be able to view those games on the tube.
The fans are being used as pawns, manipulated into spending more and more of their hard-earned money. For many people, baseball is a welcome diversion from all their problems and their financial woes. The owners and players possess obscene amounts of money. Their greed knows no bounds. There may be a valid reason for a lockout, but the fans will be the ones who pay the price. I'm talking about the ordinary Joes who just love the game. Where is the justice in that?
Players, agents and owners consider baseball to be a business. But why does it have to be only a business? The powers that be should not forget about the devoted fans, the kind of fans who sit in the bleachers and keep box scores. We all know the story of how greed killed the golden goose.
- Joanne
