.............

Baker, coming from the East Coast, has a macro sense for what some ballclubs are up to when they say, "We'll put together a competitive team and offer a nice family night at the ballpark."  

Baker has seen East Coast teams that thirst to win, and he has seen midmarket team that "manage expectations."  He calls baloney on it.  So do I, and have since July 2011.  If you, Gentle Reader, are oblivious to the fact that many sports CEO's want to play .500, make money, and sit in the luxury boxes getting fawned over ... you better axs somebody.

This macro industry problem is real, and it can't be waved off so easily.  Particularly not by a non-athlete smugly asserting that there is no such thing as sports psychology.  

The moral issue arises if and when an MLB team overtly sells a pennant race - and covertly does not intend to offer one.

Dr. D, with his immersion in 1945-1975 Soviet chess and olympics training, is completely convinced that there is such a thing as sports psychology.  But that's not the point.  The point is that everybody in baseball, especially everybody who's ever won in baseball, will tell you that.

Baker tells you that, too.  Laugh if you want.  Guess who else you're laughing at, at the same time?  Jack Zduriencik.  Don't think he doesn't wince at the naivete when he reads it online.

.

=== Case In Point, Dept. ===

In 2011, the Seattle Mariners played the first half of the season with the best rotation Chris Chambliss had ever seen.  Geoff Baker informed us that an East Coast team would not have wasted the 2011 season; it would have brought in offensive help.

Now think for a second.  Chris Chambliss has won six (6) World Series.  (All six with the mega-$ Yankees?  I forget.)  He said that the 2011 Mariners had the best rotation he'd ever seen.

Most ML scouts, such as Lou Piniella*, speak in terms on "not wasting the season" once your club shows surprising strengths.  The Mariners, in 2011, did what? to capitalize on their rotation?

Baker called on the Mariners to not waste their season - to be aggressive in getting some legit offensive help for that rotation.  Maybe Baker's judgment was wrong.  His judgment was certainly not ridiculous.

We would be so much better off, if we could simply state that we believe our opponent is probably wrong.  As opposed to constantly having to crow that his belief is so misguided that it is "not even false," so to speak.

........

The Mariners battled and battled.  Finally, in the middle of July with a 43-43 record, they lost one more 2-0 ballgame, against a weak Guillermo Moscoso in Oakland.  Finally, their chests collapsed.  They lost 17 in a row.

I'm a fan of this administration, but I think they did their ballclub wrong by not getting them offensive help in 2011.