Baseball Isn’t Boring
Will Baseball Be Able To Not Shoot Itself In Its Foot? Evan Drellich Has Some Thoughts
21 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What are the implications of the Dodgers' contract with Kyle Tucker?
Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring. You don't get bored by baseball. Okay, one thing the game needs is more people like you. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. Normally, this is the time where I go, there's no human being I would rather talk to than XXXXXXX. But there's always exceptions.
There's always exceptions. I don't know if I've ever said this to Evan Drellick, that there's no human being I'd rather talk to than Evan Drellick. In all the years that we've done radio and podcasts and everything else. But you know what, Evan? I'm turning over a new leaf.
There is no human being right now, despite all your flaws, despite you being late for this podcast, despite you always constantly looking over my shoulder to talk to someone better when we're engaging in conversation, despite all of it, there is no human being I'd rather talk to than Evan Dralek right now. Lineups out. Do you get residuals every time that we play lineups out? You should.
There should be more of my drops. I'm like, obviously. No, that's the only one we still use. In case people don't know, Evan and I, because this is a national big-time podcast, Evan. I'm sure. Many listeners, many viewers. Many leather-bound books. And we did a radio show together. And it was the only show maybe in the history of certainly of the station.
We did it for EI where they literally had to spend more money to make sure that to bring somebody else in to make sure we didn't argue with each other or at least stepped in between each other. So I took that as a compliment. Because I don't think there's enough of that anymore.
I think it's a lot of, like, you talk, I talk, you talk, you talk, instead of what we did, which is just scream at each other. We had a great show. We had a great show.
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Chapter 2: How does a potential lockout after the 2026 MLB season affect baseball?
And if the bosses didn't realize that, well, you know, none of them are in place anymore. And, of course, a lot of times when we were doing the show, the lineup would come out during the show, and you got very excited. Like, you, all of a sudden, it's like, Squirrel!
yeah yeah we had we had a bit you know and then it was a great time i love that sunday morning show uh three hours sleep at fenway on a sunday morning it's kind of similar right it's nine nine a.m my time it's a it's a holiday morning here nobody knows that as you're listening it's hot yeah okay all right tell me how radio works thank you i let i let you know um that
Today, like I said, I'm letting you have a forum. You don't have enough of a forum. You have to get your word out there. What do I usually say about your brand? What do you say about my brand, Rob? I need exposure bucks? No, no. I usually say your brand has never been hotter. I feel like it can be hotter in this case. And that's why you're on the podcast right now.
You're welcome.
Thanks for your help. Wipe those sleepies out of your eyes. I mean, your eyes are literally at half mast. Hey, I showered. Come on. We're doing great here. All right. How do you feel, Evan? How do you feel about things? How do you feel like... Because you serve a purpose for me in a couple different ways. Number one, you always bring a smile to my face, even when I try not to.
Number two, you're wildly entertaining to me in ways that people have no idea. And number three, you are actually interested in a lot of stuff which nobody else wants to be interested in, but is important. I will say this, but it's important because every time anyone mentions the stuff that you usually cover, you cover, they run away and say, earmuffs, I don't want to hear about it.
And you run to it. Right? Am I wrong? No, you're right. Maybe that's why my eyes are a little... At some point, it makes you a little sleepy dealing with all the stuff that nobody else wants to deal with. But you're right. That's right. Hold on. That's a good cut. That's a good meme right there. Good gif. All right. But now we're sort of... I saw you at the World Series and...
And Tony Clark talked. Rob Manfred talked. That was the only reason you were there. That and the poutine. Correct? That's mostly, yes. I go to the World Series, A, to be a great teammate, help run quotes for all the other many athletic reporters there. But yeah, because Tony Clark and Rob Manfred typically talk at the World Series.
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Chapter 3: What are the differences between this lockout and previous ones?
That's right. And also to latch your wagon to me saying to all the MLBPA people, hey, if you want a baseballs and boring sticker, I know a guy. And in exchange for baseball and some boring stickers, you will give me information next time I need it. I mean, let's be honest. I want to be clear. I gave them to both sides. Oh, you did? Oh, sure. Yeah. I ran into the MLB.
There was somebody, I won't name who, there was somebody on one of the sides who said, you know, I don't want to take it. I appreciate the sentiment. But, you know, in PR, apparently you don't acknowledge kind of the negative. And to say it isn't boring. Really?
Yeah.
Yeah, somebody didn't want it, but they weren't mad. But I went to both sides with it. Everybody got to do that. Which side was it? MLBPA? You know, I don't want to. Ryan was Stark. I was, after game two of the World Series, they have, you know, you and I have both partaken in the post-game parties at World Series, right? So I didn't even know there was one.
Until after game two, it went out to center field. And lo and behold, there's the seafood tower. So I'm in line for the seafood tower. And this nice lady was like, oh, you're the guy with the stickers. See, your brand has never been hot enough. Or for the MLB PA who told me that you were telling everyone you can get stickers. I know a guy. Let's be clear.
You came on the field, tried to put stickers on me without me noticing.
No, no, no. First of all. And then handed me stickers to give out to people. So I'm talking to MLB. I'm talking to the MLB PA. And I gave him stickers as a bit. Like, why not?
Here, have the sticker. I succeeded in putting the sticker on you. You did, in fairness to you, you did wear it around all of game one. I did. I did. This is what I get for trying to support your cause. No, it's not. It's more of your brand, man. It's like this is... I'm trying to build you up.
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Chapter 4: What role do the owners play in the upcoming labor negotiations?
You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Such a mentor. We're not going to get into how you owe everything to me, but that's another story. That's another podcast. All right. So... As we sit here, do you feel it, Evan? Do you feel it?
Do you feel like the juices are flowing where you're basically saying, can we just fast-forward this baseball season and get to the meat and potatoes, which is, are we going to have a lockout? Can you feel it? Oh, honey, it's not are we going to have a lockout. There's obviously going to be an off-season lockout coming in December again. The part I want to fast-forward to – is March of 2027.
Because nothing is going to get real, we saw it last time, until games are really on the line. Nobody's going to move to their, you know, not final positions necessarily, but you're not going to see anything close to the true cards until it's crunch time. And that's the state of labor in baseball today. The Kyle Tucker signing only inflames those, you need a salary cap calls, and...
I'm dreading it a little bit because it's going to be, you are a little bit. Sure. It's because you have to work. You actually have to write stuff. That's right. That's right. The, the, in all honesty, in all honesty, once that, that time, when that comes, like the lockout comes, okay, I'll take your word for it. It's not, if it's just, well, it's not even when it's just going to happen.
You have to basically, you become the athletics, most important person. I disagree with that in the sense that one of the truly great things about being at the athletic is the size of the team, right? I work closely. Ken Rosenthal will hear things. Our other national writers were here. Our beat writers will hear things, right?
It, you know, it might end up getting funneled to me, but it is very much a group effort here where, and there are plenty of times where something ends up with somebody else's byline, but it's because somebody else Yeah, I get that. But the point is that nobody enjoys writing it more than you.
These people who are finding out information and siphoning information to you, they don't want to write it. Let's be honest. They want to write about the other stuff. Yeah, I've, you know, one of the last stories I did in Boston, Rob, for a regional sports network that shall not be named, was a large look at the players union and kind of their failings or trappings at the time. And you know what?
That's why you were fired. Um, yeah, you might be right. It was too easy. You know, look, I've spent the last six years focusing on the off the field. And this goes back to, I remember, I'm sure you remember Rob, I was a beat writer covering the Houston Astros and everything they were doing was crazy. tailored to the collective bargaining agreement in kind of really specific ways.
And I would have been a negligent beat writer if I wasn't paying attention to CBA. So, yeah, I have been more moved by the levers of power.
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Chapter 5: How does the salary cap conversation impact competitive balance in baseball?
That's my preferred phrase for all this in the game than I think most people. The sport is so random.
Yeah.
It's not that I don't enjoy it and I don't see truth in it, but it's easier for me to find objective truth in the off-the-field stuff than on the field. I don't know. Were the Dodgers really better than the Blue Jays last year? It's a random game, and I'll tell you what, everything I cover isn't exactly random. There's a lot of intent and crazy personalities, but interesting.
They're almost caricatures, some of these people. Well, first off, you complained behind the scenes. You complained that you weren't getting paid to do this podcast before the podcast. And I felt, I don't feel bad, but as compensation, I am going to make you a t-shirt that says levers of power that you can wear around.
I only complained after you complained. This is how the media works. They cherry pick quotes. I only complained once you yelled at me for saying, can we do this 15 minutes later than you originally asked on a holiday.
you know what the Chilean miners complained about the same thing as they were sticking the srob through the ground alright so how does alright through all the why you're interested in that stuff fine How does this feel different than last time? I guess that's like the nuts and bolts. Do you remember how it felt leading in at this point last time? How does it feel different?
And should we be more worried that there is going to be games cut into because a lot of people will say, oh, it's just going to be the same thing as last time. It's different for a couple reasons. One, everybody just lived through it, and the last time we hadn't had anything like it in 25 years. The 94-95 strike was the last time you had any sort of lockout or strike period in baseball.
So everybody's a little bit familiar with the program, I think, at this point. Last time, it was the players who were the aggressors for really two CBA cycles, at least a full one, five years each time. The players have been angry about service time manipulation. There was a whole list of issues that the players wanted to be fixed. And by the way, they had been angry for years.
And in the end, still nobody actually missed games, which I do think is a notable point here. But those are kind of the two issues. major differences is who's the aggressor and who's kind of more playing defense. You know, the players union will say, of course we want things. We want to get more money to young players.
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Chapter 6: What are the financial dynamics between small market and large market teams?
If so, um, So it's a different conversation, but kind of the same structure as last time. When you saw the Kyle – I don't know if you know this because you aren't following it. Kyle Tucker siding with the Dodgers. I covered his brother, Preston Tucker. Did you know that? He had a brother. You what? Kyle Tucker had a brother who played for the Astros and still has a brother. Yeah.
Congratulations to the Tucker family. That's right. But a lot of people, their guttural reaction to that was –
dodgers are ruining it for everybody i guess the the question i would have for you is is there anything that we should like when when people say that is that a thing or is it like just no the dodgers are going to be dodgering and they have been for a while that doesn't change any narratives the the the salary the the the cap is the cap
this, this has no effect of anything, or is this pushing things further down the road of the owners saying this is unfair? I think it could narratively push things. It's not as though people weren't complaining about the Dodgers previously. There's just a lot of debates you can have on the way to this conversation. What is the state of competitive balance in baseball? Um,
Can teams who aren't the Dodgers compete reasonably, fairly? How does that compare to other sports leagues? There's arguments on both sides for that. The league likes to point out that there hasn't been a bottom 15 market team to win a World Series since the Royals in 2015. That's not great for parity. The union points out that since 2000 in the four major men's professional sports,
Baseball's had more individual winners than any of the other sports. So I think 16 is the number. Um, Then you get to a debate about, well, okay, if you agree that there's a problem, and I'm not saying I necessarily do, but if that's the position you take, then what is the solution? Does the salary cap fix it? And then the big question becomes, well, where are you setting the floor?
Where are you setting the cap itself? The Dodgers, whatever you set the cap at, will spend toward the cap. The Pirates will spend toward the bottom of that. And so how many more playoff appearances do you get for those small market teams that raise the Marlins, et cetera, in this new system? Does it actually fix the thing that you have just argued is broken?
And again, it's like three different arguments to get to this point. I think there is an effort that both sides, the players and the owners, are going to undertake to convince the public of what is right and what is good for baseball. At the end of the day,
It matters somewhat what the public thinks, but the bottom line is who's willing to miss time for their positions if indeed the cap proposal stays on the table. And I think in an industry that next year is going to be probably about $13 billion or close to it, The rational incentives don't line up for a major work stoppage.
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Chapter 7: How do media rights influence baseball's economic landscape?
There was a point where the commissioner said, we're canceling regular season games, and then they found a way to play them all. They found a way to play the full 162. it's all leverage building and everybody's going to talk, talk really tough. And this is why I said at the start though, it comes down to March. You know, it, it's not going to matter until games are on the line.
It just doesn't in this setup with this league and this union leadership, you know, it other leagues sometimes get deals done sooner. That's not baseball right now. I don't know if it will be any time in the near future. So yeah, Yes, you're going to hear everything. This is going to be Armageddon. And that's kind of everybody's job is to say, we're tough.
We're not going to back down to the other side. But the amount of money at stake and the damage you would do to the sport with any sort of real work stoppage. It's so obviously a bad idea when there is so much money coming into the sport that it seems to me likely that they'll find some way to play a full schedule. It'll just be really ugly to get there. That's my guess.
But if the owners decide we want our franchise values to go up and we're going to do whatever it takes to get there. Well, Rob, we'll have a lot of time to talk labor and men's clothing stores in Boston coming in 2017. All right. So you adequately have articulated how it's different because the one aggressor is now the guy fending off and the guy fending off is now the aggressor.
But what I would ask you is that, so you talk to these people, you talk to both sides, right? The tone of them, the tone of them. And you're right. I mean, I remember, Evan, you were probably at that gate in Jupiter, like in March. Remember that? It was like a week before they settled. I try not to. The end of the earth, right? It was literally the end of we're not having a season.
And then a week later, they figure it out. But is one side talking tougher than they had been last time around? Because as I said, you have heard on the record, off the record, everything, how these guys, what the tone is for these same people of just a few years ago. Yeah, I think...
Kind of inherently, because the owners are more the aggressors here, they are talking tougher than they did before. And you do hear people saying, you know, if the players are really faced with missing games and maybe they will cave and that belief does exist, you know. There's so many politics that go into this.
The management side, the ownership side in baseball, you need 75% to ratify a new CBA. So if there's a group of eight owners who get together and say, we want a cap, well, that's a big political problem for Rob Manfred. And the other thing that looms behind all of this is the sports TV rights. You're seeing these RSNs, particularly in the smaller markets, really struggle.
The money that goes to the teams in the RSNs is dipping. On the other hand, you've got these big streaming companies that want to scoop up and buy everything. And so what MLB wants to do There's two sets of rights in baseball, the national rights and the local rights. The national rights are what gives you the game of the week on Sunday nights on Now NBC. It used to be on ESPN.
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Chapter 8: What strategies can teams adopt to compete in the current MLB environment?
Come 2028, baseball's national deals are up. They run through 2028, so there's new deals starting in 2029. Manfred would like to be able to sell those local rights to big streaming companies.
You put a bunch of them together, and now you've got Netflix not only bidding on the game of the week, but now they're bidding on local rights for however many teams are able to get all those rights together. The key thing here is that the teams control those rights right now. One thing he'd like to do is take control of that, have the league office use that. Well... Then what?
If you're changing this media rights system, are you changing how the teams share that money? Guess what? Teams like the Red Sox make a lot of money on TV. They're not going to want to share that with the poor little Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays, not without a give and take there.
So even before you get to this big conflict with the players, there's so much internally that the owners got to figure out about what they want to do and sweeping their own front porch. they can come up with a plan that they like, and then you got to deal with the players. Because revenue sharing in baseball, how owners share money between themselves is collectively bargaining.
You have to deal with the players union on it. So, you know, there's a lot that underlies the cap and where the cap kind of ties into that media side of it is it changes revenue sharing fundamentally in baseball. And it's also the kind of thing that if you wanted to make a big change in media rights, and it's going to piss off some clubs, and others will be okay with it.
Well, it can be a unifier because clubs have always wanted a salary cap. And so you can dangle the salary cap that people say, okay, well, make this big media rights change, and you get a cap, and then everybody can sign on to it, and then you've got to beat down the players. So there's a lot to it besides somebody newly being aggressive here.
Along those lines, where do you think Zach Allen's going to sign? No, I'm just kidding. Next question. Hold on. I got to take half my five-hour energy after that diatribe about – it's very informative. You talked to your doctor about that stuff. Yeah, you're on the trolley. You're part of the club, right? Drinking seltzer. Yeah, it's also 9 o'clock in the morning. You just woke up.
Wait till 10 hours from now. You'll be like pounding Red Bulls. I'm a tea drinker these days. Oh, look at you. The coffee was making me too anxious, so I drink hot tea. Tell you what I glow about you. Along the lines of the TV thing, The Dodgers, after the Dodgers thing happened, some people say, oh, after the Frank McCourt dealings, they had this arrangement.
The Dodgers have this unfair advantage of TV money. What do you know about that? Anything? Because I want to clear that up. That was, I want to clear it up too. And I'm going to have to pass on it at the moment because I need to dig into that. That was some Twitter chatter around that. I don't doubt it being correct, but it honestly is something I have not
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