And this wasn't a fluke. Far from it. There have been 10 seasons since '85 in which two, one or no teams finished over .600 and under .400. Competitive balance is what they're supposed to have in the NBA, where every season some team threatens to finish under .150, where the Los Angeles Clippers, playing in one of the biggest markets in the country, remain unable year after year to even come near a playoff net so wide it would trap Moby-Dick. Competitive balance is what major league baseball has had for nearly two decades, and no one seems to have realized it yet.
Competitive balance is here all right.
Baseball doesn't deserve to have competitive balance, not with an ownership ruled by a greedy oligarchy that constantly browbeats the weaker franchises into actions that run blatantly counter to their best interests, and the game's. But it's there, and this year that's going to be more evident than ever. Sears Auto and Home Insurance Program. Rangers manager Johnny Oates takes the fall for leading a bad team to a lousy record. The state Legislature casts him in the same league as Hitler.