Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below the top deck of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. I apologize for the weeks-long silence; been dealing with a whole lot of the proverbial “stuff.” Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken have assured me that they have been keeping you completely on top of all developments in the wide, wide world of sports …
Or, who makes the best fish crackers.
Anyway, this is the golden time of year for sports aficionados, what with all four major leagues — five if you count the SEC — in action. Let’s look at baseball first, since it will be the first to conclude.
Much to the dismay of Flea and the delight of Geddy Lee, the Toronto Blue Jays presently (October 30, 2025) hold a three games to two lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2025 World Series. Which, given the Blue Jays’ presence, is an actual World Series. Or, at least, a North America one, provided President Trump doesn’t annex Canada for Halloween and make it the 51st state.
Going into the series, the self-appointed baseball experts were predicting Dodgers in four if it didn’t go three, what with Los Angeles’ power-laden lineup and a starting pitching staff that had just finished making an excellent Milwaukee Brewers team look like the Lilliputian Wifferpoofs. The Blue Jays have other ideas. Aside from the superb performance in Game Two by Dodgers stud starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the pitching has been average to decidedly subpar, and the hitters have not been hitting. Meanwhile, Toronto has been hitting for both power and average. While the Dodgers have out-homered the Blue Jays eight to five, Toronto’s team batting average is a full 60 points above Los Angeles’. That does not translate into winning baseball for the left coast blue crew.
The series is being played against a backdrop of the looming labor battles between players and owners, as the current agreement expires at the end of the 2026 season. The owners would doubtless like to see the Dodgers win as proof of their mantra that the current salary structure, which isn’t quite anything goes but comes very close to it, is untenable, leading to a perpetual divide between haves and have-nots. The players would prefer the Blue Jays triumph as evidence that things are fine the way they are, since David can still KO Goliath. Los Angeles entered the season technically second in total player salary to the New York Mets, but this is due to Shohei Ohtani’s $70M annual salary deferred to the tune of $68M annually. Even with that, the Dodgers are shelling out $323M this year. The Blue Jays have the fifth-highest payroll at $239M. Thus, instead of David versus Goliath, it is more a case of Goliath versus Goliath’s slightly younger brother, with the latter having just finished polishing off a bowl of Wheaties.
It’s not that the Dodgers have broken either the letter or the spirit of the law. They have not. It’s that the law, law in this case being the current labor agreement, stinks. Teams in larger media markets enjoy a significantly higher revenue stream than their small-market counterparts, courtesy of lucrative local broadcast deals, which the owners of jealously guard. Every team shares 48% of local broadcast revenue with the other teams, but that leaves the majority of income with the big boys.
The players, for obvious reasons, have chosen “no salary cap” as their proverbial hill. Curiously, they are also loath to consider a minimum team salary base. The owners would have an easier time giving an ornery hen a root canal than convincing each other to fully, or in the majority, share local revenue in order to place all teams on a more equal footing. In short, expect a lockout at the end of the 2026 season and not much in the way of major league baseball in 2027, Savannah Bananas notwithstanding.
Meanwhile, there is a World Series to complete. Its outcome is anything but a foregone conclusion. Yamamoto is starting Game Six for the Dodgers, and their bats can wake up at any time. The Blue Jays are legit and have no fear. The game, and Game Seven if needed, will be in Toronto, so advantage birdies. Should be fun.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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