When Major League Baseball began its mission to grow the
brand and try, for lack of a better term, emulate the National Football League
a word that we the fans heard a lot of was parity. During the 90’s and the
early 2000’s you generally had the same teams winning the division every year,
the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the San Francisco Giants, the Atlanta
Braves, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Texas Rangers, etc. MLB can be proud in
2015 though because with the additions of a second wild card playoff spot,
luxury taxes, profit sharing and the growing baseball television network market
parity may have finally arrived and may be here to stay for the foreseeable
future.
In the American League every single team had at least a .450
winning percentage at this year’ All-Star break which is the first time an
entire league has done that in the majors since 1944. You have to keep in mind
that the league was very thin in 1944 due to World War II while the game in
this day and time is star rich with at least one or two on every single team.
Even in the American League East Division parity, or mediocrity depending on
how you look at it, is evident with the last place Boston Red Sox trailing the
first place New York Yankees by just 6.5 games entering the All-Star break this
season.
The Oakland Athletics have the worst record in the American
League at 41-50 entering the All-Star break and are a good month away from
eliminating just an 8.5 game deficit to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The
same can be said for the last place Chicago White Sox who went into the break
sporting a 41-45 record and a 5.5 game deficit in the American League’s second
wild card chase. Parity means interesting and this major league season is
shaping up to be very interesting, especially with the scheduling change that
has every single game starting at the same time on the final day of the regular
season. With seemingly every race heading down to the wire Major League
Baseball made a heck of a risky move and it looks like it is going to pay off
immensely.
The same could be said for the National League if it were
not for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Miami Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers
both other than those three teams and maybe the Colorado Rockies the parity can
be seen there as well. Almost every team is within single-digits of a playoff
berth which makes for some exciting baseball in the second half. Parity is here
in MLB for better or worse, it is time we start getting to love it.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)