A Gathering Storm

AS A NEW SEASON BEGINS, PLAYERS FACE THE HARSH REALITY OF BASEBALL’S NEW WORLD ORDER

- Jack Dickey

THOUGH OPENING DAY has finally graced us with its arrival, banishing to the past the silliness of yet another spring training, the 2017–18 baseball offseason will not recede easily into memory. The past winter showcased the calamities facing Major League Baseball and signaled to labor and management how much work it will take to safeguard the game’s future.

For two years now, baseball has closed its season with an extraordinary World Series then opened its offseason by awarding a trophy to executives who oversaw a remorseless tanking effort. Tanking limits competitiveness within the season and outside of it: the A’s, Tigers, Reds, Rays, Pirates and Braves more or less sat out free agency, and the Marlins did all of them one better. The usually free-spending Yankees and Dodgers also skipped free agency to avoid paying the luxury tax.