Socialist Playoff Preview: The American League
I know the playoffs technically already started, but I figured you were owed a playoff preview. I’m trying something a little different, though. Rather than pick each series — which usually comes down to which team has a higher payroll — I’m going to try to make the leftist, pro-labor case For and Against each team. Then you can decide how to incorporate that into your rooting interests…
We’ll start with the AL today, and then do the NL tomorrow (at which point some of these teams may already be eliminated, but what can you do?).
Baltimore Orioles
The Socialist Case For The Orioles
Baltimore had such a storied season this year, winning more than 100 games for the first time since 1979. To put that in perspective, that’s two years BEFORE Cal Ripken, Jr. made his debut. And they did it without a real Cy Young contender, or a real MVP candidate, meaning they did it in a remarkably egalitarian fashion, with a ton of exciting young players.
Indeed, if you are a fan of egalitarianism, you ought to root for Baltimore, who have been without a playoff win since 2014, and without a World Series appearance since 1983. Don’t these fans deserve to be rewarded for their suffering?
The Socialist Case Against The Orioles
How did this Baltimore team get all those exciting young players? By tanking, of course. They lost at least 108 games every full season from 2018 to 2021. And it wasn’t just that the Orioles tanked — they didn’t even try to hide it. Manager Brandon Hyde more or less admitted that they weren’t trying to field a competitive team in those years.
Tanking like this — in addition to being one of the worst scourges in baseball over the last decade — is profoundly anti-labor. How many players had their careers seriously derailed by suiting up for a team that was trying to lose 110 games? How much money was redistributed away from players while the team refused to bid on free agents? And now their reward for this anti-player behavior is a team with fun stars Adley Rutchsman, Gunnar Henderson, and Ryan Mountcastle? I’m sorry, but no fan of egalitarianism can abide this…
Houston Astros
The Socialist Case For The Astros
Let’s be honest: The hatred people have for the Astros is profoundly anti-labor. Even in 2023, players are still getting booed for a scandal dating back to 2017 — when many of these guys weren’t even on the team, and many of those who were didn’t even participate in the sign-stealing system. This is even more unfair because, as I wrote last year, the players were really made to be scapegoats for a system that was obviously sanctioned by the organization, at least tacitly.
But because the players’ union was strong enough to insist on immunity, the players did not get the slaps on the wrists that Alex Cora, AJ Hinch, and the Astros organization got. And so much of the anger directed at the Astros now is just resentment that workers might not be subject to whatever disciplinary whims their boss might have. Socialists should obviously support a union’s right to protect its players. More to the point, they should resist calls to blame players for problems that clearly start at the top of a franchise.
The Socialist Case Against The Astros
I mean, speaking of tanking…
Nobody tanked harder than Houston did from 2011 through 2014. But more than tanking, Houston has been on the forefront of nearly every trend ruining baseball, from the rise of interchangeable relief pitchers to locking up young players on predatory, team-friendly deals. Most famously, their combined no-hitter in last year’s World Series was a joyless experience for fans of the sport.
How can any fan of justice and fairness continue to root for a team that so ruthlessly exploits loopholes, destroying the public good for their own personal gain, like every rent-seeking capitalist? I mean, come on… it’s THE ASTROS.
Minnesota Twins
The Socialist Case For The Twins:
Say what you want about the Twins, but they have the decency to at least try. They have, for the most part, avoided the plague of tanking that has consumed most of the AL Central. And they haven’t even resorted to the “oh we’re such a small market! What do you expect us to do?” excuse that would be so easy for them. When every other team was scared away from Carlos Correa last off-season, the Twins made him a $200 million offer. They even took a chance on Joey Gallo.
Also, from an egalitarian perspective, these poor fans haven’t seen a playoff win – not even a single game! — since 2004, despite making the postseason SIX times since then.
The Socialist Case Against The Twins
This isn’t necessarily the Twins’ fault, but I sense a lurking problem with baseball’s new playoff format. The Twins won only 87 games this year — the lowest of any playoff team in the American League, and fewer than the Seattle Mariners, who are stuck watching from home. Of course, this is not unusual; there have always been strong and weak divisions in baseball. But now that baseball has moved to a balanced schedule, and now that playoff seeding really matters, the injustice of this is more extreme.
Minnesota will host the Blue Jays for the whole Wild Card Series, despite winning two fewer games. This is a pretty big advantage — the Twins are a much better team at home. And yet they can’t plausibly claim their schedule was harder, or that winning the AL Central was some kind of accomplishment in its own right. It’s not their fault, but Minnesota is benefitting from a structural advantage that they have not earned, so how can you really root for them?
Tampa Bay Rays
The Socialist Case For The Rays:
So, a couple of years ago, the Rays signed Wander Franco to an 11-year extension worth at least $182 million. It was, by far, the largest contract Tampa Bay had ever signed. And now, with the recent terrible allegations against Franco, he has been placed on indefinite administrative leave; there’s a decent chance he will not play for them again. Should the Rays have a disappointing run, this could become another justification for the team to avoid long-term deals like this one.
We simply cannot give Tampa Bay more reasons to not pay players…
The Socialist Case Against The Rays:
Where to even begin? The Rays have been sucking the fun out of baseball for years, with their shifts and their platoons and their openers and their overall refusal to let starters go deep into games. Like the Astros, they have been on the forefront of every terrible trend in the sport. This year, for example, they had only one pitcher throw more than 120 innings. If you look at who has pitched for them this year, it’s just a litany of guys who burned bright, striking out tons of batters over limited innings, and then got hurt: Jalen Beeks, Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Jason Adam, Jeffrey Springs, I could go on…
This proletarianization of the bullpen is not just boring to watch — it’s ruining guys’ careers. Players are blowing out their arms before they ever reach free agency, all so the Rays can please their two dozen fans…
Texas Rangers
The Socialist Case For The Rangers
The Rangers were pretty bad a couple years ago, losing 102 games in 2021. But instead of going the usual long-term “rebuilding” plan, they just went Fuck It and dove all-in, giving $500 million to both Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. People thought it was idiotic, but now both those guys are going to finish in the Top 5 in MVP voting this year, and they nearly won the AL West.
What I like most about the Rangers is that they keep taking big swings. They lost 94 games last year, but instead of backing off their Win Now strategy, they went out and signed Jacob deGrom. At the trade deadline, they added Max Scherzer and Aroldis Chapman. None of these moves “worked,” but the spirit of acquisition did pay off: Lesser known additions like Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi DID work out.
In a climate where teams continually insist that the only way to improve is to be dreadful for years on end, it’s exciting a team realize that you can actually get better quickly if you are willing to pay players a fair wage.
The Socialist Case Against The Rangers
No state income tax — that undermines the quality of public services in Texas.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Socialist Case For The Blue Jays
Toronto is kind of like the opposite of Tampa Bay. They have FOUR starting pitchers who started at least 31 games and threw at least 167 innings — and that’s taking into account the disastrous year from Alex Manoah. Maybe even more interesting is that all four of these guys — Chris Bassit, Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi — were all signed as free agents. In other words, the Blue Jays are one of the few teams still valuing a deep starting pitch staff.
And it paid off! Despite disappointing years from most of their lineup, Toronto’s pitching staff carried them to the postseason. If you want to see pitchers fairly compensated — and not just turned into one inning chum — then you should hope the Blue Jays go far.
The Socialist Case Against The Blue Jays
Vladimir Guerrero Jr… Cavan Biggio… Bo Bichette… enough of these nepo babies…