February has traditionally been the time of year when the winter thaw begins to hint that it might be starting. Let’s not start playing catch yet, but in a couple of weeks the pitchers and catchers will start showing up in the warmer portions of the country where “spring training” takes place. Sports pages and other media outlets begin to pry themselves away from football obsessions (hoping here that it includes Taylor Swift) and allow what used to be called the “National Pastime” some space. The mood has generally been warm, even optimistic. This year it seems a bit different. The great game is looking a bit shoddy and decadent.

The World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, despite having a horrific bolt of reality dealt to the community in which they operate by the stupendous loss of people, living space,wildlife, and morale, apparently decided to keep on spending money like everything was going to be okay. Kirby Yates, Roki Sasaki, everybody, come on down. Sign up. The sun will still shine behind all the smoke there in fantasy land and we’ve got a great television contract. We survivors are all still rich, right? I’m not sure that that is what is meant by resilience.The Oakland A’s are gone to a minor league yard but who needs Oakland, right? It’s just working class people without the glitter of Las Vegas and the glitter of gambling (now a proud partner of Major League Baseball) or the glitter of over rated show business has beens.You may or may not agree with me that there is no place in organized baseball for glitter. Sacramento will be the so called temporary home for the A’s as they share a field there with the Triple A team that the San Francisco Giants are affiliated with, the River Cats. Sacramento deserves better than the ignorant slobs running that franchise.

Rob Cumberworld Manfred is the perfect commissioner in the Trump II era who doesn’t have a clue what the product he’s selling is all about. Just take their money and feed them bullcrap. Honor the billionaires and laugh at the peasants.

Eventually the athletes will help us to feel better. That’s what I’m hoping. I’m glad that Juan Soto is a New York Met, not a Yankee. I’m glad Justin Verlander is still going to work. Here’s hoping, but it looks like 1954.

The New York Yankees string of five consecutive pennants was broken that year by a remarkable Cleveland team that won 111 games against 43 losses but the Yanks won 103 . The big weapon the Yankees had, and still have, was cash. Cleveland was greatly aided that year by their “acqusition” of slugger Vic Wertz from the Baltimore Orioles, formerly the sad sack St. Louis Browns. Baltimore finished seventh in the eight team American League that year by losing 100 games. They were outdone in losing by the Philadelphia A’s, who were 51-103. Fourth place Boston finished 44 games behind Cleveland. Third place Chicago won 94 games. So money talked big back in the day. The National League came closer to parity. Eighth place Pittsburgh finished 44 games behind the pennant winning New York Giants with a 53-101 record. Steps were eventually taken to even things out somewhat. The amateur draft began in 1965 and the expansion drafts led to creation of divisions within each league so that more teams qualified for the post season. Obviously, the independence of players increased tremendously when free agency was fought for and won in the 70s.

The big enemy of parity is the capability of team owners to sign players to contracts with payment deferred for years and years. This helps teams get around being financially punished for spending too much on salaries in any given year. The Dodgers have done this, most notably with the massive contract they have with Shohei Ohtani. The idea is to spend into the future in order to sell tickets and television rights today. This is what needs to be banished if true parity is ever to exist. The big problem is that the players don’t seem to mind and the fans don’t get a vote. Okay, let’s all go shovel the snow or whatever. We”ll feel better in the Spring. Won’t we?