It goes without saying baseball needs Shohei Ohtani in the World Series after years of sagging ratings and media attention.
And with the Los Angeles Dodgers playing the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series, there’s a good chance MLB will get its wish. The Dodgers won the opener 9-0 of the best-of-seven series, but the Mets evened things up with a 7-3 win Monday.
The second-best option is having Aaron Judge in the World Series, which also can happen if the New York Yankees do their job and beat the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Championship Series, which began Monday in the Bronx with a 5-2 Yankees victory. The Yankees are baseball’s winningest franchise with a rich tradition, and even the millions of fans who grew up hating them would tune in to watch.
If it’s an Ohtani-Judge matchup, baseball fans can rejoice, knowing they’ll be treated to the game’s two biggest stars, two iconic franchises and enough side stories to keep everyone’s interest while Fox analyst John Smoltz drones on during the broadcasts.
Hopefully Cubs and White Sox fans who lost interest during this depressing season of disappointment and historic losing can summon the courage to watch the postseason, in spite of the four remaining teams.
Cubs fans should be rooting for Anthony Rizzo, who returned to the Yankees roster Monday for Game 1 of the ALCS after fracturing two fingers on his right hand Sept. 28 and missing the division series. None of the big names from the 2016 Cubs has won another ring, so it would be fitting if Rizzo — the most beloved ex-Cub of the bunch and the most heartbroken to leave — broke the drought.
Sox fans should be eagerly cheering on Michael Kopech, one of the faces of the 2017-21 rebuild who finally found his groove after being dealt to the Dodgers in July. Going from the losingest team in baseball history to a championship would be a dream season unlike any other.
But which teams would Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts like to see win?
It’s hard to say, but judging from their approaches to building a championship team, Reinsdorf and Ricketts figure to be all in on the Guardians, who ranked 28th in payroll at the start of the season at a mere $86.4 million. Theoretically, the Guardians’ success proves you don’t need to spend big money to win as long as you have smart executives in the front office, a manager who knows how to relate to his players and a strong farm system that complements free-agent spending.
Ricketts repeatedly has said this is his preferred strategy and even hired general manager Carter Hawkins from the Guardians front office.
“We have more financial resources than most teams and certainly every team in our division,” he recently told the Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro. “And really, if it was all money, we’d win the division every year. It really comes down to player development, getting the right people in the right chairs and hoping they all stay healthy.”
That would put Ricketts in the opposite corner from the Mets, Dodgers and Yankees, who never have shied away from trying to buy their way to the top. If the Guardians do win, Ricketts can maintain the Cubs are doing things the right way, even if it hasn’t worked for under current Cubs President Jed Hoyer.
Reinsdorf’s preferred baseball operation seems to be the Kansas City Royals, who built their team via the farm system but were eliminated by the Yankees in the division series. But he also grew up loving the Brooklyn Dodgers, at least until their miserable owner moved them to Los Angeles.
It’s probably safe to say Reinsdorf is no fan of the Mets, who are owned by his nemesis, Steve Cohen.
Reinsdorf reportedly was one of four owners who voted against the sale of the team to Cohen after the 2020 season, fearing Cohen’s spending habits would lead to higher salaries across the board.
Cohen immediately showed his willingness to do whatever it takes to win, forking out $346 million in salaries for 2023 by overpaying players such as outfielder Brandon Nimmo ($162 million, eight years), closer Edwin Díaz ($102 million, five years) and starter Justin Verlander ($86.7 million, two years). He tried to overpay shortstop Carlos Correa, too, but the 12-year, $315 million deal fell through after concerns over Correa’s physical.
The ’23 Mets flopped with a 75-87 record, but Cohen hired one of the best executives in the game, former Milwaukee Brewers President David Stearns, who made the right moves to steer the team back to the postseason. The Mets then upset the Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies to reach the NLCS.
It could be argued Stearns was more valuable to the Brewers’ success than manager Craig Counsell, whom the Cubs signed to a record-setting $40 million deal that did not lead to the postseason in Year 1. But that’s another story.
Getting back to Reinsdorf, Sox fans all know he never has signed a player to a nine-figure salary. Outfielder Andrew Benintendi’s five-year, $75 million deal in 2023 is the highest in franchise history, and it hasn’t paid dividends the first two years.
Back in 2022, Reinsdorf said of competing with his fellow owners: “You earn probably half your income in conjunction with your competitors. At the same time, you are at the mercy of your dumbest competitors. Particularly in baseball. If you have somebody who decides he wants to spend $42 million on a second baseman who hits .202, and one comes along for you, you’re going to probably have to spend the same money. The whole thing is irrational.”
So is not spending at all.
That Reinsdorfian mantra wasn’t quite as memorable as the quote he uttered in the summer of 2023 when asked how the Sox would change under new GM Chris Getz.
“Look, we’re not going to be in the Ohtani race, I’ll tell you that right now,” he said with a chuckle to a room full of hand-picked reporters, four months before Ohtani signed with the Dodgers for $700 million over 10 years.
Sox fans weren’t laughing along with him. But during the final homestand of the 121-loss 2024 season, many were cheering for the Sox to lose, an embarrassment he’ll never live down.
No matter who wins the 2024 World Series, you can bet Reinsdorf and Ricketts will assure fans through their surrogates that their teams will be competing for a championship in the near future.
And it won’t be long before the return of SoxFest and the Cubs Convention, where the narrative never matches reality.
So enjoy this great October postseason while you can. It’s going to be a long winter.
