BILLIONAIRES VS MILLIONAIRES
Why the state of MLB is perceived quite differently by Astros fans
Mar 1, 2022, 11:55 am
The Astros are the best thing we’ve got going. Composite image by Jack Brame.
Monday’s threatened deadline for baseball owners and players to reach a new collective bargaining deal before regular season games would be canceled came and went without a deal.
So both sides agreed to extend the deadline until 5 p.m. today. That’s 5 p.m. in zany Florida, where stupid is a lifestyle. Or 4 p.m. our time, where normal rational people – you may call them baseball fans – are being held hostage while owners and players engage in what’s become a quadrennial poop-throwing contest.
Extending the baseball deadline is the doctor who gives his patient six months to live. When the patient still hasn’t paid his bill, the doctor gives him another six months to live.
The patient still dies. Get it, baseball?
March is here. Spring training should be in full swing. The season is supposed to start later this month. But the only games being played are by MLB and players union negotiators.
Has baseball taken a good look in the mirror recently? Fans have had just about enough of baseball. Attendance is down. TV ratings are down. Baseball used to be America’s national pastime, now it’s pretty much a regional sport, woefully behind football and slipping into third behind basketball in some markets. What more do fans have to do to scare baseball straight?
Houstonians don’t get a realistic picture of baseball’s descent into irrelevancy because our owner appears to be a decent guy who actually wants the team to win, and the Astros are the best thing we’ve got going. The team is lovable.
The message coming out of baseball’s negotiations seems to be that the owners wouldn’t mind the season being delayed until May. Early season games, after the romance of Opening Day dies (usually on the ride home), are poorly attended, especially in the cold weather north where most teams call home.
You try sitting in the stands at open-air Target Field in Minneapolis on April 7, the Twins’ tentative home opener. Your hot chocolate at the concession stand turns into a Wendy’s Frosty before you get to your seat. The weather almanac says the temperature in Minneapolis in early April “rarely falls below 20 degrees.”
Rarely? That’s not good enough. I’ll wait until the snow melts in June. By the way, the foreign city with weather most similar to Minneapolis is Volgograd, Russia – formerly called Stalingrad. There isn’t a sun-baked Hedonism clothing optional resort in Volgograd. It’s not much warmer in Cleveland, Boston, Pittsburgh or Chicago. I lived in Detroit for a year – baseball in April isn’t a day at the beach there, either.
It's cheapskate owners vs. money-grubbing players. Who are you rooting for?
Supposedly there’s an algorithm, the baseball schedule can be trimmed to 140 games and the owners don’t lose any money on the season. The players get paid by the number of games played, however, so a reduced season would cut into their salaries. Maybe that’s why two-time MVP Bryce Harper, who makes $26 million a year from the Phillies, is charging fans $900 to send them a one-minute happy birthday video on Cameo. Poor guy needs a side hustle.
Perhaps if MLB owners and the players union, instead of holding negotiations in Jupiter, met on Planet Earth they’d see that they’re playing chicken with baseball’s legacy. It’s the bottom of the ninth, it’s almost 5 p.m., and fans are leaving the stadium.
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A new challenge awaits, and the Astros know what’s at stake
Jun 27, 2025, 2:05 pm
The Houston Astros didn’t just sweep the Philadelphia Phillies. They sent a message.
In three tightly contested games against one of the best teams in baseball, the Astros leaned on their elite pitching and timely offense to secure a statement sweep. Hunter Brown was electric in the finale, shutting down the Phillies’ lineup and showing the kind of dominance that’s become a defining feature of his game. Bryan Abreu slammed the door with four strikeouts to close out the win, and rookie Cam Smith delivered the deciding blow — an RBI single in the eighth to drive in Isaac Paredes, lifting the Astros to a 2-1 victory.
It wasn’t a series filled with offensive fireworks, but that’s exactly the point. Both teams sent out top-tier pitching throughout the series, and Houston was the team that kept finding a way. For much of the season, the Astros’ inconsistent offense might’ve been a concern in a series like this. But this time, it felt different. The bats showed up just enough, and the pitching did the rest.
Now, with Houston on pace for 96 wins at the halfway point, the question becomes: Is the league officially on notice?
Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing is certain, the Astros have the third-best record in baseball, they’re 17-7 in one-run games, and they’re playing with the kind of rhythm that’s defined their near-decade of dominance. Unlike last year’s uneven campaign, this version of the Astros looks like a team that’s rediscovered its edge. Whether or not they need to take care of business against the Cubs to validate it, their recent run leaves little doubt: when Houston is clicking, there are very few teams built to stop them.
Off the field, however, a bit of long-term uncertainty is starting to creep in. Reports surfaced this week that extension talks with shortstop Jeremy Peña have been put on hold as he recently signed with super-agent Scott Boras. The combination has led many to wonder if Peña might follow the same free-agent path as Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, and others before him. Boras clients rarely settle early, and Peña, now one of the most valuable shortstops in the game, could command a price tag the Astros have historically avoided paying.
If Peña and even Hunter Brown are likely to get priced out of Houston, the front office may need to pivot. Isaac Paredes could be the most logical extension candidate on the roster. His approach — particularly his ability to pull the ball with authority — is tailor-made for Daikin Park and the Crawford Boxes. Last year, Paredes struggled to leave the yard at Wrigley Field, but in Houston, he’s thriving. Locking him in long term would give the Astros offensive stability and the kind of value they’ve typically targeted.
As for Cam Smith, the breakout rookie is far from free agency and will remain a cost-controlled piece for years. That’s exactly why his contributions now, like his clutch eighth-inning knock to beat Philadelphia, matter so much. He's one more reason why the Astros don’t just look good right now. They look dangerous.
And the rest of the league is starting to feel it.
There's so much more to get to! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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