Socialist Playoff Preview: The National League

This is Part II of a two-part MLB playoff preview. If you missed Part I, on the American League, check it out here. (Also, if you are waiting for another episode of The A-Rod Chronicles, then sit tight: It is in the works…)

Alas, I took to long to write this and now two National League teams have already been eliminated. So I guess we’ll never know the socialist cases for and against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Miami Marlins…

Atlanta Braves

The Socialist Case For The Braves

The Braves are the only team owned by a publicly traded corporation, and therefore the only one we have anything close to real revenue data for. Publicly traded corporations are, in general, good for socialists — Karl Marx himself loved joint-stock companies — because they begin to separate the ownership of a company from the operation of a company. Also, as a rule, big, public companies are easier to regulate and collectively bargain with, meaning they are generally better to work for.

Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that the Braves have a very well-compensated team. They are very good at buying out guys’ pre-arbitration years, when most players in the league are at their most underpaid. But in Atlanta, of their nine regulars, seven are signed to long-term deals worth at least $35 million, not to mention the long-term deal signed by the leader of their rotation, Spencer Strider. They don’t necessarily have the highest paid guys — they are only 10th in payroll — but by providing for so much long-term security for their players, they have not only built a core that should scare teams for years, but have created a seemingly enviable workplace. We should root for a team that invests in a stable workforce.

The Socialist Case Against The Braves

OK, well, how does a team end up with so many young players on long-term deals? By signing them to team-friendly extensions! Indeed, the Braves have been ruthless about extending players before they even get a whiff of free agency — last year, Michael Harris II signed what could be a 10-year deal before his rookie season was even finished. The result is that almost nobody on the Braves is paid anywhere close to his free market value. 

For example, Ronald Acuña Jr. just had one of the most historic seasons ever, and will likely win NL MVP this year. And since this is his sixth season, under normal circumstances, he would be heading into free agency, ready to cash in before his 26th birthday. But because he signed a team-friendly deal over four years ago, he will make “only” $17 million from now until 2028. As a comparison, Aaron Judge, who is five years older than Acuña, signed a nine-year deal worth $40 million per season last offseason, suggesting that Acuña is likely worth at least twice what he’s getting paid.

And he’s not even the worst one! Atlanta still has Ozzie Albies on one of the most exploitative contracts in baseball history — he was worth 4.7 Wins Above Replacement this year, and will be paid just $7 million because of a deal he signed when he was 22. The Braves are able to do this because players are so underpaid early in their careers that many jump at whatever contract is offered to them at a time when they have no leverage. And if they don’t, Atlanta is also ruthless about shipping out guys who DON’T accept these discounts, as they did even with fan-favorites like Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson. How can any self-respecting socialist root for such an exploitive operation?

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Socialist Case For The Dodgers

In recent years, as more and more teams focus on getting guys who are under team control and signing guys to team-friendly deals like the ones Atlanta likes to sign, it can seem like players in their 30s are an endangered species. When teams DO sign guys to long-term contracts, they almost always want to dump the final years on someone else. A couple years ago, I wrote about how this was making it harder for players to end their careers with dignity.

But the Dodgers are different. When a team wants to give up on a guy, the Dodgers are there to give him a chance. They did it with David Price, with Albert Pujols, with Joey Gallo, and this year’s team is built around guys like Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and J.D. Martinez — all guys who were ditched by their previous team because they were too costly. If the Dodgers win, perhaps other teams will not be so eager to shed their star veterans. 

The Socialist Case Against The Dodgers

They play in a monument to capitalist injustice…

Philadelphia Phillies 

The Socialist Case For The Phillies

This is going to be a little repetitive of my case for the Rangers from yesterday, but I think it’s worth being repetitive here because there’s this weird idea, which is pretty common among baseball fans, that tanking “works” — that in order to be good you have to first be really bad. Many people will tell you that tanking is not only the best, but in fact the ONLY way to build a winning baseball team.

I’ve already written about the spotty track record of teams that do tank. But it’s also just not true that teams cannot rebuild without tanking. Look at the Phillies. They were pretty mediocre for most of the 2010s. And then they just decided to go after some big free agents, signing Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto and Zack Wheeler and Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber and Craig Kimbrel and Trea Turner. And now they’re back in the playoffs after a run to the World Series last year. 

Socialists should root for the Phillies because they put the lie to the idea that tanking is necessary. The best way to get better is, in fact, to be willing to pay for talented players!

The Socialist Case Against The Phillies

The Phillies made the World Series last year with just 87 wins, fueling the notion that baseball’s playoffs are “a crapshoot.” As I wrote last year, this (false) narrative is used by many owners to justify not adding to their rosters, especially at the trade deadline. After all, what’s the point of trying to make the playoffs if they’re so random anyway? If the Phillies make another deep run this year, then this narrative will only get worse.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Socialist Case For The Diamondbacks

OK, this is going to be tough because I know next to nothing about this team…. Zac Gallen threw 210 innings, which is pretty good! That’s some pro-labor usage, pushing back on the domination of the bullpen! Also, Evan Longoria’s on this team, apparently? I always liked him, and Longoria was one of the early examples of the Braves’ method of team-building. When he was with Tampa Bay in 2008, just a couple of weeks into his major league career, he signed a six-year extension worth just $17.5 — given his production, that turned out to be one of the most team-friendly deals ever signed. To put it in perspective, Longoria is making more money this year, as an aging part-time player for Arizona, than he averaged over six near-MVP seasons in Tampa Bay. So let’s hope he wins a ring…

The Socialist Case For The Diamondbacks

Wait, imminent Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll is already under contract until he’s 31 years old? Are you fucking kidding me?