At the bare minimum, a professional franchise is supposed to attempt to field a competitive team. The 76ers were routinely mocked and the NBA had to step in because they were an embarrassment to the league. In MLB, 40% of the league is the 76ers. Pathetic.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

it's all Theo's fault

Seconded. The Marlins did this shit for years and everyone hated them for it. Now it's Really Smart and supporting it makes you a Really Smart Fan.

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I mean, I hate the White Sox, of course, but at least they go out there every day with the intention of winning a ballgame. I never thought that would become such a novel concept.

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In the NL. Not MLB.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

All of which makes any talk of expansion 10x dumber than it already is in the first place.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Marlins have 2 rings in 20 years!

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It is interesting how its strictly an NL strategy. Every single AL team is trying to be competitive, even Minnesota who has just had a disastrous start to the year.

The flip side is in 2-3 years all these tanking teams are either going to abandon The Plan, or start bearing the fruits of tanking and becoming #wearegood. By that time the Cubs will be suffering under the weight of shitty contracts to Heyward and Lester while all the Babe Ruth's will either be washed out or salivating at the mega contracts Boston, NY, LA etc. will be offering. For every bit the Cubs chances of winning it all increase by the rest of the NL (except for about 5 teams) giving up on the season, the more it becomes imperative that they win their title in the next 2 seasons. Their window is shrinking fast.

The NL is the smarter league for the smarter fan. You mouth breathing AL fans can continue to be proud of your mediocrity.

Who is officially 'tanking' in the NL?

Phillies, Braves, Reds, Brewers, Padres and Rockies?


Seems like a normal amount of terrible teams.

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Team Cutler.

The worst team in mlb is Minnesota.

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Not even close. The seven worst teams in baseball are in the NL.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

They overachieved last season but they're not THIS bad. I haven't seen the Braves really play yet but they might be the worst this season. Houston is also being exposed for who I kind of thought they were (they completely overachieved last season too). Marlins are dogshit as well. Rockies have great offense and defense but the worst pitching. Brewers are probably really bad but haven't watched them. Phillies are bad but improved.

Top 3 worst:

Braves
Marlins
Reds

Marlins also. The Diamondbacks may as well be. There are 7 NL teams competing for 6 playoff spots, which is a complete fucking joke.

Hogwash

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Competing for the 3rd wildcard spot?

There always has been and always will be teams on the bottom. What's new and different is that purposeful awfulness is now part of "The Plan". In the past if a team could make a move to make a 75 win team into a 79 win team, it was a no-brainer. They did it. The new philosophy is that "there is no glory in winning 80 games."

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

There is a fundamental problem with Bernsie types philosophy that only championships matter. When only one per year can win it there is nothing left to do but lay down. Unless you go with his other philosophy that you can just get to the playoffs for a bite at the apple or a wheel spin or whatever. I get confused what I am supposed to root for to be really smart.

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Elections have consequences.

It's easy to promote tanking when you never go to any games. You just change the channel for three years.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

C'mon,don't you miss a "LeGrand Le Orange?

Maybe with a Matt Murton in LF for the new Expos?

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

step in and did what exactly?

It's just an overreaction. In a few years tanking will be seen as stupid too.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

So all the bitter White Sox fans are mad at the League for helping the Cubs look good...that's nice.

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I don't think any Sox fans are mad. It's just a fact that many teams are tanking in the NL. It's Cub fans that seem upset about it.

And what do Sox fans have to be bitter about? That the Sox are half game worse than the supposed best team of all time?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

that they would be ahead of the Cubs if not for the tankers

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I don't know about that. It's purely hypothetical. The Reds are obviously tanking but they've played better than management- or anyone else- expected. But I think it's safe to say the AL is a much stronger league than the NL right now.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Just another stupid post by America. The Cubs can afford to pay inflated contracts to guys if they choose to, as new streams of revenue are available to them now (signage, new partners) and will be soon (Hotel, Plaza, new TV contract) that will allow them to keep as many of the exceptional players they have, as well as signing others, should the need/ desire to do so arise. The window on Jake Arrieta is the only one I see in question, as Boras always wants to get every dollar possible. but the core will remain together for many years and Arrieta is here through 2017 at least. If he gets a 300 million dollar offer from someone after that, you sign the next best guy and continue the teams improvement with guys like Almora, Contreras and Glyber and continue the era of dominance that has only just beginning.

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Go Cubs!!!!

It does sound pretty idiotic to worry about what the Ricketts are paying players. They can afford it. There's no hard cap to punish teams for mistakes. Who gives a shit what they pay and if it's too much?

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Not at all. The Nationals and Cubs are the two best teams in Baseball. Not just by their records, but overall. The Mets, Cardinals, Pirates, Dodgers and Diamondbacks are all very good teams as well. The national league may have several teams (Reds, Brewers, Padres, Braves and Rockies) currently not really trying to contend, but it also has more really good teams than the AL, where there is much more parity, but very few real good teams.

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Go Cubs!!!!

I know Cub fans are a self centered bunch generally, but there was nothing in my post you could have gotten this from. Relax man. Enjoy your teams success and quit worrying about the Sox all the time. Neither team was brought up in the OP.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul