Sadly the Cleveland Guardians will take on the Tampa Bay Rays to open the MLB Playoffs

The Cleveland Guardians will unfortunately match up with the Tampa Bay Rays to open the playoffs.

The playoff bracket has been set for the Cleveland Guardians and they will face the Tampa Bay Rays for a three-game set starting Friday. All three games will be played in Cleveland at Progressive Field and it will see two similarly built, and run ballclubs colliding in a playoff series that should have been for the American League Championship.

Instead, it’ll be for the right to move on to round two. It is a sad situation for a Guardians fan because the Rays and Guardians are both teams that find success in spite of their fanbase. Neither team pack their fields. While some fans will hold onto the 90s as proof that Cleveland is a “real”  sports town, the fact is the city doesn’t show up for sports who aren’t winners, outside of the Browns.

The Guardians have historically never been a huge draw in Cleveland. For decades they were near the bottom of the attendance and only saw their numbers rise when the Browns left town. Due to this, and the “rich get richer” approach to revenue sharing that the MLB employs, Cleveland is often at the bottom of the payroll rankings. This isn’t a new thing for the franchise, Cleveland was only 28th in attendance in 2016 and only 22nd in 2017. Even when Cleveland spends money, fans don’t show up. So when they win but don’t spend money, fans aren’t showing up.

This season has proven that, as they’ve been on fire for most of the year and have been among the most exciting teams in baseball all year, but fans only started showing up when the playoffs were on the horizon. Make of that as you will.

The Tampa Bay Rays are among the few teams in the MLB that win in spite of the preconceived notion that you have to have a $200 million payroll. So to have to face them, a team like the Guardians that represent the future of baseball, in the first round will not only hinder the belief you can win without a big payroll but will also limit the chance for the game to break the shackles people who believe you need to overpay to get results.

The Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays should’ve met in the ALCS

I don’t live and die with the idea that if a team isn’t from Cleveland, I can’t enjoy them. I love sports. I am not someone who falls into a dogmatic belief that it’s either my town or no town. I can like multiple clubs and dozens of players and root for anyone and everyone. I rarely, however, root for Cleveland teams to lose. There are exceptions, like if the Browns need to get the first overall pick or if the Cavs are out of the playoff race but another team I like would benefit from beating Cleveland, sure, I’ll be ok with a home-town loss in those rare situations.

But mostly, I just hope the two don’t collide at all. I like the Rays. Not as much as other clubs outside of Cleveland, but historically I’ve always appreciated what they’ve been able to do. Home crowd and stupid stadium aside, they’re a very well ran ball club.

The Major Leagues needs teams like the Guardians and Rays to prove rising costs of above-average players aren’t the way to win. They can do this by winning World Series or at the very least, being regulars in the ALCS against one another. When you can prove that you’re capable of succeeding in the face of mounting costs, it puts the concept on its head.

Baseball needs a salary cap and a salary floor. It needs better revenue sharing like the NBA has. Half of the NBA teams don’t make a profit but are supported by the robust income that other franchises produce. The MLB isn’t at all like that, and most clubs have to turn a profit on their own. Hence the tight payrolls.

A Guardians and Rays ALCS may have shaken up the narrative, but instead, both squads are going to have to have a rather forgettable, three-game encounter, that will almost assuredly not change the game for the better.

Baseball is losing fans hand over fist because of their refusal to change their ways when it comes to revenue sharing and if they want to minimize the loss of fans, things need to change.