Here's an excerpt from my latest TribLive.com column:
The usual suspects are bleating that MLB is “broken.”
MLB sure doesn’t think so. Nor do its broadcast partners and advertisers.
The World Series pitted the United States’ No. 2 market against the entire country of Canada. The presence of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the Dodgers provided global appeal. Excluding the involvement of a New York team, MLB couldn’t have picked a better World Series matchup.
The series went a lucrative seven games, enabling Fox to generate more than $330 million via in-game ad revenue.
Through Game 5, Fox averaged 13.1 million viewers per game. Sportsnet in Canada averaged 6.4 million per game.
Add in Japan, and those figures skyrocket further. Game 1 had the largest combined audience for America, Canada and Japan since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
It was a great, dramatic World Series that will be talked about for a long time. Does that sound “broken” in even any small way?
To read more, click HERE.
UPDATE: The Game 7 ratings are in.
The Dodgers' dramatic 11-inning victory drew 25.98 million viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox's streaming outlets. That's the biggest audience for a World Series game since Game 7 in 2017.
That ain't broke.
So MLB won't fix it.
Adopting a salary cap when baseball's current CBA expires after next season wouldn't fix the Pirates, either. Owner Bob Nutting wouldn't spend above the cap floor. His payroll will always be minimal.
MLB is what it is. The Pirates are what they are.
Photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images