Go Phillies !!! Who's Your World Series Pick?
I think alot has to do with the markets they are in,
If they spent money on the right players, they might win or at least compete. They did OK last year. What happened this year? They didn't go out and get free agents and proved that they were basically lucky. They needed to bolster the young guys with vets who know how to win but that didn't happen.
That wouldn't fly in the Tampa Bay region due to team support. You have to fill seats to pay players, it is still a buisness.
Why wouldn't winning at all costs fly? Do people who live in the TB area enjoy mediocrity? Wouldn't the best business decision be to put the best team on the field, to insure the best chance at winning?
The only sellouts the Rays have are the prime games, Yanks and Boston.
If the Rays would win consistently, people would come to the park. Simple!
The Rays are still building for the future with new ownership and young players. But they are likley to move to a new home if the fans don't come.
At some point you have to call a spade a spade and just say we suck, we can't do anything about it this year. Re-building does not happen in NY, which is unfortunate. It feeds the culture of win now at all costs and fuels teams into buying superstars every year in hopes of catching the right chemistry. Rarely works.
Plus its easy to root for the winners. Try being a Buccaneer fan. :cheers:
Yankees were bad for a LONG time, almost the entire span of poor Don Mattingly's career. They happen to be doing pretty well for the last decade and a half. It's all cyclical though, they will be bad again. I went to a lot of games in the '80's, 9,000 people on a Tuesday night in June against Cleveland or some other crappy team. Baseball was off my radar for years because of it.
Wasn't trying to pick you apart here, just saying that excuses for not winning are many. I'd probably feel annoyed at the Yankees too if they weren't my team.
