World Series: WFNY Staff Chat

gerbs – Okay gents! The World Series starts tonight! On one side, you have the big market, star-laden, $200 million payroll of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and on the other, you have a team whose payroll is ~10% of that in Tampa Bay. Who has your attention as a Cleveland fan, and who has your rooting interest from a baseball perspective?

mitchell – I know as Clevelanders, we should support our small-market brethren, but I can’t help but root for the Dodgers. From top to bottom, that is a fun team, built the right way by an organization that can afford to build a team however it pleases. Case in point: Per Roster Resource, the Dodgers have 22 homegrown players, compared to Cleveland’s 17 and Tampa’s 13. Plus, this is a huge fanbase who’s seen its beloved team come impossibly close the last few years without winning.

gerbs – It would make me feel better about the Astros’ cheating if LA is able to pull one out. Also, absolve Clayton Kershaw of some demons.

wfnycraig – I can’t imagine watching even a minute of this World Series. I feel no draw to it at all. I can’t even hate watch this series. I honestly know few of the players and none of the “storylines.” Not that anyone needs to do this, but can you convince me to watch it? Is there any reason I should care? I know this is the grumpiest of takes, and I am not upset or emotional about it. I’d just rather watch Utopia on Prime or find another new show.

mgbode – For clarification, Tampa’s payroll is 1/3 of the Dodgers, not 10%. Still a big difference.

gerbs – IM NOT A NUMBERS GUY

mgbode – Gerbs identifies as the John Smoltz of WFNY… OK, sorry, sorry, that was too far. I retract the statement 🙂 

The 2020 World Series has the potential of being the most exciting non-Indians WS in recent history. You have two teams who have extremely similar approaches to building a team; except for their financial ability, which has changed drastically how their team was actually constructed.

The Dodgers have the stars. Mookie Betts might be the best all-around player in baseball (Yes, that includes Mike Trout).

The entire lineup is littered with former and current MVP candidates and All-Stars. Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, AJ Pollock, Joc Pederson, and “elevation revelation” pioneer Justin Turner. They are so stacked that guys like Max Muncy and Will Smith (one of the best young catchers in baseball) often get over-looked. Chris Taylor would be a Top 3 hitter for the Tribe, he’s on their bench. So are Edwin Rios and Gavin Lux who have a bright future.

The starters might be their “weak” link, but it’s not like Kershaw, May, Urias, and Buehler (if needed) are bad. And, they just serve as an entry to their bullpen that has guy after guy after guy who throw absolute fire. There is a reason the Dodgers won the NL West 8 seasons in a row and won the NL pennant three of the last five years, after all.

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Tampa is on the other end. Imagine the Indians front office operating without any regard to fan sentiment but just churning through players to acquire what they view as even slightly better values and doing so constantly, while also putting in many of the same player development systems the Tribe has in place but being able to tap better into the US development market because Tampa just happens to be the epicenter (one example, Lindor went to high school an hour away at an academy that brings up many of the best high school players from Puerto Rico).

There are people who complain that they do not know the names of the Rays’ players, but it is mostly because ESPN continues to show the Yankees battle a terrible Red Sox team rather than highlight them. The Rays have the first Korean-born position player to make it to the World Series in Ji-Man Choi… and boy is he fun; his personality is a bit of a Korean Franmil Reyes. Of course, Randy Arozarena is the big name after his scintillating postseason, but Willy Adames, Brandon Lowe, and Kevin Kiermaier have been essential guys all season.

You might know another guy on the team too. Yeah, Yandy Diaz learned to hit the ball in the air (at least a little bit). When he gets going, he can rip the cover off the ball. The big thing though with the Rays lineup is how many complementary pieces they have and how they maximize the value from each one. They don’t need to nor try to use guys in a non-efficient way. It doesn’t always work, but it always makes sense.

The pitchers are similar. Their starters will look meager compared to what the Indians can roll out, but they have enough different styles that they can get the job done, and turn things over to a deep bullpen. Since they cannot afford the velocity guys like the Dodgers, they prioritize different looks. There are so many arm slots from their guys that people are starting to create memes.

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But, all of the above doesn’t really matter if you don’t want it to. Baseball in a seven-game series provides an amazing amount of drama with every pitch a potential turning point in the game and / or series. That you have two teams who will throw their emotions outwardly on the field, you can feel you are a part of the ebbs and flows.

Then, you get the deeper storylines. Kershaw’s postseason struggles. The Dodgers haven’t won since 1988. The Rays never won one. They aren’t as long as the Tribe’s… but, there will still be that anticipation of another long drought ending. Either the dominance of the Dodgers rewarded or the Rays showing it’s possible to outsmart even the smart organizations with tons of money.

However it goes, I’m here for it.

davesterling – I’m still mad the MLB left the Cavs out of the bubble

wfnycraig – You make compelling cases Bode, but I find @davesterling’s case even more compelling. What about the Cavs?

In all seriousness, I think this is a “me” problem. I barely enjoyed watching complete baseball games this year when it involved the Indians.

davesterling – It’s not just you. Baseball is hard to watch on TV.

wfnycraig – But while we’re talking about Dave, I have to say the best sports viewing experience I’ve had this year was watching a Crew game with Dave and our soccer friends video streamed together. If the Indians had been playing in a non-pandemic year I might have hit a sports bar and decided to watch communally. That’s something I’m missing desperately.

davesterling – Big communal reactions are a huge part of sports for me. It was tough on a zoom call when there were 3 different timelines based on what streaming service people were using to watch the games.

andrew – I’m rooting for the Dodgers for an admittedly dumb reason. But if the Rays win, I feel like every time someone mentions Cleveland’s payroll we’ll be hit with endless tirades of “Well actually the Rays won the World Series against the Dodgers so clearly payroll doesn’t matter”

scott – I’m fully supporting the Dodgers. They acquire stars. They spend. They invest in maximizing the likelihood of winning baseball games.

And Justin Turner’s beard is First Team All-Beard.

mgbode – Agree on the beard… pretty sure the math shows the Dodgers spend far less a percentage of revenue than average MLB clubs (they just make so much more $$$), but those are the economic rules set in MLB.