Unlucky Jays

Oh well, the curse of SLS strikes again, though Toronto can console themselves with the thought that they more than played their part in what was a thrilling series, in the end just succumbing to the Dodgers’ starry roster, especially Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was all but unhittable right through the postseason.

There is no doubt that, in terms of pure athletic aesthetics, a strong team like the Dodgers has a certain beauty, but the appeal of a sport goes beyond any single club; some element of genuine competition is needed too. The fact that the Blue Jays came within a couple of outs of an upset only partially obscures the reality that allowing financial disparity within a league to become too lopsided will ultimately undermine the value of the product. A salary cap is the club owners’ preferred solution, but is, unsurprisingly, unpalatable to the players, so some other collective remedy, like increased pooling of media revenue, might be necessary. Whether the teams in big markets, who are doing well under the current system, will be on board with this is another question of course, but it does look like something will have to change.