From the Editor’s Desk: Advertising Infects MLB Playoffs

It’s an exciting time in the Major League Baseball calendar, as the regular season has entered its final weeks and the postseason bracket is beginning to take shape as pennant races wind down. With the league undergoing growth in both attendance and TV viewership this season, according to Sports Business Journal, it was about time the commissioner’s office made one of their characteristic boneheaded decisions. 

Beginning this October, for the first time MLB teams competing in the postseason will display a sponsored logo on their helmets, the Associated Press reported. The MLB announced last week they’d reached a deal with German workwear company Strauss, which will run through the 2027 season. 

As a lifetime baseball fanatic, I’m utterly disgusted by this news. The average MLB franchise is worth $2.4 billion. The league reported revenue of $11.34 billion over the past year and a singular beer at Wrigley Field sets you back $17 — how much more freakin’ money do they need? 

I was suspicious of the pitch clock but open to seeing how it would work in practice. The extra-innings ghost runner rule upsets me to no end, but I understand the rationale behind it. This, though, I can’t explain away. It’s completely beyond me why the most talented ballplayers in the world — playing in the year’s most high-stakes games — will be dressed up like Nascar drivers just so the MLB can skim a few extra dollars off the top. 

As a general rule of thumb I try to avoid falling into nationalistic ways of thinking, however when it comes to baseball it’s hard to avoid feeling a sense of pride in the American game. 

Considering this is baseball, it’s even more of an insult the MLB is partnering with a German company. Somewhere Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams are rolling over in their graves — as would I.

Commissioner Rob Manfred and the MLB are desecrating our nation’s pastime, all in the name of a quick buck. One of the things I love most about baseball is the game’s extensive history. While new technology and larger stadiums have changed the fan experience, on the playing field, for the most part, the game and its players appear just as Ty Cobb did in the dead ball era or as Sandy Koufax did when taking the mound at newly completed Dodger Stadium. 

If the helmets aren’t sacred, then what is? 

The announcement adds insult to injury when considering 23 of the 30 MLB teams have added sponsored patches to their uniforms. 

The most appalling examples of these patches destroying baseball tradition include the New York Yankees, whose jersey has remained mostly unchanged since 1918, and of course my beloved Chicago Cubs who introduced a Motorola patch to their iconic uniforms — which date back to 1937 — earlier this season. 

While I understand baseball must adapt with the times this is a step back. I’ll of course still be tuned in throughout the playoffs — but man will I be ticked off.