Baseball, Baseball And More Baseball …

We are getting into late November; so, naturally, this is the time to talk about baseball.  Let me start with the vote by MLB owners to approve the move of the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas and to accept all the inconveniences associated with that move.  Lots have been made about the finances in this matter; the A’s want – – and actually need – – a new stadium; the Oakland Coliseum under whatever name is on the façade these days is beyond repair.  The owners want significant public funding for that stadium either in terms of direct payments for the construction costs or in terms of tax abatements and other financial considerations over a period of time.  The city of Oakland could not meet those conditions.

Back in the mid-90s, Oakland and Alameda County ponied up to bring the Raiders back to Oakland from Los Angeles.  The investment in that case was not a new stadium from the ground up; it only involved adding about 20,000 seats to the existing Coliseum, but it was sufficient in magnitude to cause the government entities there some fiscal agita for a while.  Perhaps that experience made those government officials “gun shy”; maybe you could say that having been fleeced once, they were smart enough not to fall for the same con twice.  Whatever…  The fact is that Oakland and Alameda County have chosen to live within their means even if that meant losing pro sports franchises.

• The Raiders left Oakland for Las Vegas in 2020.  The Raiders got a sweetheart deal and a new stadium there; some estimates were that the folks in Nevada paid $750M to “acquire” the Raiders.
• The Golden State Warriors used to play in Oakland; they moved across the Bay to San Francisco in 2019.  Once again, financial considerations played the major role in the Warriors’ decision to leave Oakland.
• Now, the A’s are leaving town to take up residence in Las Vegas and according to reports, the good folks in Nevada will be contributing about $250M to aid in the “moving costs”.

Oakland cannot afford that kind of money; it is a city that has more than a handful of issues that need its financial attention and building a playpen for a billionaire sports franchise owner is not high on its list of priorities.  So, on one hand, feel sorry for sports fans in Oakland who have “lost their teams”.  At the same time, appreciate the way the folks in government there have refused to give into financial demands from sports owners and leagues.

Now comes the period of uncertainty for the A’s and for MLB:

• The A’s have a lease to play in Oakland through 2025.  Attendance at A’s games has been embarrassingly low for years now; it will only get worse in the next two seasons.
• The new stadium in Las Vegas will not be ready until the start of the 2028 season – – if everything adheres to schedule between now and then.
• So, where will the A’s play their games in the interim?

There are lots of unappealing options here.  MLB and the owners of the A’s need to pick the least unappealing one from the lot:

1. Extend the existing lease for the Oakland Coliseum for 3 more years.  Do not count on getting any beneficence from the city fathers in Oakland during those negotiations nor should the A’s expect tons of fans in the stands.
2. Have the A’s and the San Francisco Giants share the Giant’s stadium.  This poses scheduling headaches, and it would inconvenience the Giants who may not want this to happen.
3. Play in the existing minor league stadium in Las Vegas.  More scheduling headaches and how does that minor league team accommodate the change.  Moreover, do other clubs want to play in minor league facilities?
4. Split seasons having two venues share the A’s home schedule?
5. Something else…?

The approval of the move by the MLB owners – – the vote was unanimous by the way – – marks the first baseball franchise move since the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nats in 2005.  Leagues and teams do not like to move franchises and only do so when brand new facilities become available at little to no cost to the owners or the leagues.  While that did not happen in Oakland, it seems as if that is going to happen in Milwaukee.

The Brewers want renovations/upgrades to their home field (American Family Field).  Various plans and pipe dreams had been floated but it seems that the most reasonable plans would cost about $500M for upgrades plus infrastructure improvements plus maintenance of the facility.  Like Oakland, the city of Milwaukee cannot afford that price tag.  However, in the Brewers’ case, the State of Wisconsin had become involved, and the legislature has approved spending some State revenues on this project.

There was always the threat of the Brewers packing up and leaving Milwaukee, but the threats were never nearly as serious as the ones in Oakland became.  Nevertheless, when the State funding approval was announced, the Governor of Wisconsin made it a point to note how important the Brewers’ presence in Milwaukee is to the economy of the region and the state.  I have no idea if his statements are real or if they are affected by rose-colored glasses; what I am sure of is that the owners of the Milwaukee Brewers are happy recipients of this largesse and that the executives in MLB HQs are happy to see this matter settled quickly and quietly.

One last baseball note today …  Clayton Kershaw will undergo surgery on his left shoulder and in Kershaw’s announcement of that surgery he said specifically that he hopes to be back on the mound “at some point next summer”.  Kershaw will be 36 years old next March; he has been with the Dodgers for the last 16 seasons; he has thrown over 2700 innings in his career.  That is a lot of wear and tear on an arm/shoulder even if there had never been any sort of injury involved.  However, Kershaw has spent time on the Injured List in each of the last 4 seasons, so the announcement of surgery to the shoulder ought to make teams and fans a bit anxious about his possible return to the game at a reasonable level of competence.

Clayton Kershaw is a three-time Cy Young Award winner and an MVP winner as well.  He will be in the Hall of Fame one of these days.  Nonetheless, this announcement of shoulder surgery makes me consider the possibility that his career may be over.

 Bonne chance, Clayton Kershaw.

Finally, since today was only about baseball, let me close with an observation from Yogi Berra:

“If the people don’t want to come out to the park, nobody’s gonna stop ‘em.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………