Common sense would tell you that it would be in baseball’s best interest for the Tampa Bay Rays to win the World Series, right? I mean, who could possibly be rooting against the lovable underdogs when they are playing the West Coast Evil Empire? Well I’m here to tell you that regardless of how much people seem to cling to the concept of a Cinderella story, baseball executives should be all in on a Dodgers victory. It’s the best possible outcome for the future of the sport.
If the Rays win the World Series, it does nothing to increase interest in the game. Sure, the Tampa Bay Area would be excited, and maybe the locals would actually acknowledge a baseball team they have done a great job of ignoring these past 20 years. But for the rest of the country, nothing changes. The Rays are still “that team” that nobody really wants to watch play. Defending champions or not, season ticket holders for other franchises will continue to struggle to give those series tickets away, and MLB national broadcasts will dance around the commissioners trophy winners and continue to schedule major market teams as often as possible. Want proof? Just look at attendance numbers the past decade – the Rays have been one of baseball’s winningest teams for a while, and literally nobody cares.
The Dodgers have been knocking on the door of a championship the past couple of years, and every season baseball fans celebrate the final out they make in the World Series that results in the L. They are very close to being the official villains of the National League similar to how the American League has the Yankees and the Red Sox. But in order to actually be the true heel of the MLB, you have to win it all. Don’t get me wrong, the Dodgers have been close for awhile. They have one of the best farm systems in baseball and an ownership group with some of the deepest pockets. They finally collected the final infinity stone in Mookie Betts last winter, so the time is ripe for the Dodgers to go full Thanos on baseball and turn every other team to dust. And like Thanos, they have the potential to sell an unprecedented amount of tickets and pack stadiums by being the villain that everyone loves to hate.
Picture a Dodgers Parade (I know, it makes me sick to think about). Then think of the baseball writers talking nonstop for the next 5 months about the Dodgers repeating and becoming a modern-day dynasty. By the time next March comes around, baseball fans will be so sick of the Dodgers, they’d be celebrating every loss including Spring Training Games. While they are already a major draw on the road, a win this year would solidify every game being sold-out because everyone wants to boo them….. kind of like how the Astros were being hated-on all offseason.
Baseball needs to have those villains that are so hateable that it literally rallys all other fan bases to ban together to achieve a collective goal – BEAT LA. The Dodgers aren’t and will never be the champions we want, but they are the champions we need.
Now, forget everything I just said because while it might be best for the sport for the Dodgers to win….SCREW ‘EM. LET’S GO RAYS.
