I hate salary caps and drafts and whatever other forms of collusion they keep coming up with in the continuing masquerade of entertainment as competition, but it would be interesting to see what would happen in the NFL were it working on MLB's model of the Competitive Balance Tax.

 

Only four MLB teams exceeded the tax threshold last year, the Dodgers doing so in outlandish style (tax takes effect at $189 million, Dodgers payroll was $298 million), but with it being only four teams, it seems the tax is doing its job of keeping most teams away from that number.

 

What would you replace drafts with? Just have everyone come out as a free agent and let the bidding begin?

That is the same argument people keep making about baseball too. "The small market teams can't compete with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers." But yet those three teams don't win the world series every year. Yet you have the Cubs who were baseballs equivalent to the Browns for basically my entire life in the world series, then you have the Indians and Royals (who played in the previous 2 WS) who exemplify a small market team. I just couldn't see the Browns or Jaguars making the Super Bowl in the next 5 years. For the record I think the NFL needs to have a salary cap and it just wouldn't make sense to not have a salary cap. I don't want you to think I'm arguing for it, it was just something I was thinking about when I was getting ready to watch the game last night.

 

Baseball has like 4 or 5 developmental Leagues to help them develop players. Yet even then a rebuild plan only works for small market teams if done right. It took the Reds 15 years to get the another post season game after 1995. The Royals were horrible since the 80s until the last 2 years. The Cubs have been horrible for a long me besides a few exceptions here or there. 4 teams have basically dominated baseball over the last 15 years, and you can go back even 25 years for that matter.

 

So I guess we just have a different view on what we consider parity.

That is the same argument people keep making about baseball too. "The small market teams can't compete with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers." But yet those three teams don't win the world series every year. Yet you have the Cubs who were baseballs equivalent to the Browns for basically my entire life in the world series, then you have the Indians and Royals (who played in the previous 2 WS) who exemplify a small market team. I just couldn't see the Browns or Jaguars making the Super Bowl in the next 5 years. For the record I think the NFL needs to have a salary cap and it just wouldn't make sense to not have a salary cap. I don't want you to think I'm arguing for it, it was just something I was thinking about when I was getting ready to watch the game last night.

 

They may not win the World Series every year, but the Patriots don't win the Super Bowl every year either. That's not a great barometer of whether parity is working.

 

The Yankees have made the postseason every year since the introduction of the wildcard in 1995 with the exception of 2008, 2013, 2014, and this year. That's 82% of the time, in a league that just sent between 27 and 33 percent of their teams to the playoffs. That's a pretty good average. They won the AL East from 1998-2006 (similar to the Pats?). They won 5 World Series titles during the main era before these three misses in four years.

 

The Red Sox have made 10 postseasons since the introduction of the wildcard (45%). It's not quite the Yankees, but it's pretty strong. And they've won three World Series in that time.

 

The Dodgers have likewise made 10 postseasons since the introduction of the wildcard. Of the three, they're your best argument, since they did not win a single World Series. But they still advanced to the postseason nearly half the time when only 1/4 or 1/3 of teams in the league were going. Pretty good conversion rate.

 

You spoke of the NL Central's success. During the wildcard era, the Reds (3), Pirates (3), and Brewers (2) don't combine for one of those teams mentioned above. Tag on the Cubbies (6) and you just barely surpass the Cardinals (13), who absolutely dominate the Central. This is just the fifth year in the last 17 that the Cardinals missed the postseason.

 

Obviously you have to be well run in addition to being willing to spend some money. But for the most part, baseball teams that are committed to being good are going to be good. In football, it's usually just mismanagement, or the inability to get a franchise QB.

If I played fantasy football, I would do whatever I could to trade for the tight end playing the Bengals.

If I played fantasy football, I would do whatever I could to trade for the tight end playing the Bengals.