There is a harsh reality in Major League Baseball that is difficult to overlook, and Thursday’s news offered a reminder of it — there are too many teams in the league that are not only bad, they are embarrassing themselves and their organizations.
They are teams that are not even pretending to make a meaningful attempt at competing.
A quick rundown of some of the news that highlights the incompetence.
- The Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton on Thursday after a 12-26 start, leaving them with the league’s third-worst record. Shelton is the first scapegoat to fall in Pittsburgh, and he will most likely not be the last. Whatever your opinion of his managerial abilities, the reality in Pittsburgh is that the roster is simply lacking in Major League talent after a few players (Oneil Cruz, Paul Skenes, Bryan Reynolds) at the top. The offseason was a disaster, and they are still one of the least expensive teams in baseball in terms of ownership.
They have 111 losses as of Thursday. That would be the fourth time in six years that they had played at a 100-loss pace under general manager Ben Cherington.
- The Chicago White Sox, coming off a season in which they set a new record for futility by losing 121 regular season games, were defeated 10-0 by the Kansas City Royals, dropping to 10-28. They are not only on track to lose 100 games for the third straight season, but also to lose 120 games for the second year in a row, and they may challenge their own single-season loss record just one year later.
- Then there are the Colorado Rockies, who were swept in a doubleheader by the Detroit Tigers by a combined score of 21-3 (11-1 in Game 1; 10-2 in Game 2), dropping to a season-low 6-31. This is a 136-loss pace over 162 games, which is nearly impossible to believe. Even if they do not keep up their current pace, they appear to be on track to lose 100 games for the third straight season.
There is only one reason why so many teams have been this bad for so long. It is a lack of effort. It is a lack of serious effort to be a competitive Major League Baseball team.
That is not a slight on the players on these rosters, nor does it imply that they are not trying; they are. It is just that they are not good enough to compete and are consistently outmanned by better, superior teams.
The lack of effort stems from ownership, in the form of money and resources spent, as well as management teams’ failure to put better products on the field.
It is difficult to lose 100 games in one season. That level of failure requires a number of things to go wrong at the same time. To have this many teams lose 100 games so frequently is a black eye on baseball, and these owners should face more criticism for being bad for baseball than those who spend every dollar they can to win.
With the expanded playoff field, making the playoffs is easier than ever before. You can compete for a playoff spot and make it with 84-86 wins. It does not require a lot of money or creativity to put together a team capable of that. Every year, however, at least three or four teams fail to make a meaningful effort to reach that goal.
These teams are the worst and most consistent offenders.
