this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
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It's sure looking that way, though the Guardians aren't in too deep a hole to climb back out. It's hardly surprising we see those two so often--they're huge market teams with a front office that's willing to shell out what it takes to field a contender basically every season.
Personally I'd love to see a salary floor and a more aggressive luxury tax so that we get a more even field, but that's probably unlikely given the inevitable pushback from both owners and players, respectively.
The large number of meetings of these two teams owes more to their longevity and the circumstances of earlier eras of MLB than any current lack of parity among franchises. The Dodgers have been around since the late 1800s, the Yankees since 1903.
Since 2003, the Yankees have been to two World Series. In that same span of time, the Dodgers have been in three. Three other NL teams have had just as many WS appearances as LA in those two decades: the Cardinals, the Phillies, and the Giants. Six AL teams have had as many or more WS appearances than the Yankees: Boston, Houston, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Texas. It should be noted that the Astros have had five total WS appearances in that time, with one in 2005 representing the NL before they moved to the AL in 2013.
There have been eleven teams other than the Dodgers who won the NL pennant in the past twenty years. There have been eight AL pennant winners other than the Yankees. MLB currently has thirty total teams split evenly between the NL and AL. Including the Dodgers and Yankees, the NL has been represented by 80% of its teams in the past twenty WS, and the AL by 60%.
Judging by WS appearances, there seems to be reasonably good parity, and there is no evidence of strong bias towards either of the teams in question.
Huh. How does that happen? I feel like in some other sports the same teams end up winning over and over again, like in basketball or football. How did baseball get such parity? Is it the way they implement the draft or because the good players are being traded a lot or something else?
I'm kind of new to baseball obviously lol. Just getting into it because it was exciting to see Ohtani on the Angels, and now on the Dodgers and they are actually doing good, so it's exciting to see he might win something. I know it's probably band wagon-y but whatever lol. I also live near that area but don't want to doxx myself too much.
There’s a lot more randomness in baseball, and it’s also a lot harder for a single superstar to carry their team.
A god-tier pitcher will still only start 1/4 of their team’s playoff games. A god-tier hitter will only get 1/9 of their team’s plate appearances.
In the NFL, by contrast, the quarterback touches the ball every offensive play of every game. So if you have a god-tier qb like Pat Mahomes, that gives you a hard to beat advantage so long as he’s healthy.
In the NBA, any player on the floor could conceivably touch the ball on every possession. So if you have a god-tier player like Lebron on your team, it’s much easier to have them carry the rest of your team on a deep playoff run.
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
I'm only here to say that as a platypus lover, I enjoy your name a lot.
I hope the Yankees lose, but since neither of my teams were able to join the postseason, I've pinned my hopes to the Dodgers because Ohtani (and Betts).