The smart thing to do would be shorten the season.
But, owners want to maximize the gate receipts. Especially in mlb where there isnt any profits share program.

A smart ownership group should get together. Vote in a sharing model. 5-10 teams dont want it. 20 teams likely would. What are the yankees, phillies, mets, dodgers and the 3 or 4 other big markets going to do? Play in a 6 team league?

Something big has to change in their pending (after this season) cba negotiations. And it should pair in with something to correct revenue inequity. The luxury tax is mostly a joke. Altho. The poor teams tely on the crumbs off the rev share table to stay afloat.

I still like the idea of how european soccer handles it. With different tiers playing each other. Anither path could be 1st half/ 2nd half realignment... But as it stands now. 162 games doesnt feel sustainable inside the current model of max effort pitching.... Lol, perhaps the best plan is a jugs machine with a rotating person deciding what pitches to have "jugs" toss... While fielding the position. Itd sure level the playing field! And- ol Jugs can have a nascar style limiter plate. From what i understand. Jugs has come a long way in the past decade or 2. Any pitch can be dialed in. From a 12-6 curve to a 110 mph 4 seamer. And all the yawkers, benders, bouncers & knuckle changeups known to the science of spin rate & grip.

Of course, players & agents would never go for it. Maybe an upstart competing league tries such a thing? Im a big fan of the art of pitching. Its why I watch. But im an outlier. Most fans want offense & base running. That could be programmed into jugs. Perhaps. Before the game. Each team must declare its 4 or 5 pitches used that day. And human fatigue could also be programmed in.

Look at the fodgers 2025 run. They had around a dozen front line starters on their roster. And some subset if 4 or 8 was rotating through the IL all season long. Low & behold. Come october. They were nearly all healthy. Its an under reported story. Coincidence? Planned out elbow "tendonitis" that pops up siddenly for x pitcher just in time for "y" pitchers return. I have zero proof. But i think there twere some funny buz happening in secret.
None of the ither 29 teams has the cash available to pay 12 quality starters and shuffle them through IL stops. Its a sneaky ass way to have fresh pitching in October. No waiver exposure. No option limits. Just a sudden booboo toe, And Yamamoto gets a 30 day rest.

If i can think it up. See the obvious advantages of such a plan. You can bet smarter baseball minds than I have pondered the idea.

$500m dodger roster vs a league average of what? $140m?
And the dodgers are leading the league in players having an IL stint... 🤫Hmmmm.

As the Trumpkins like to say. Its only a crime if you serve some time... Its only cheating if youre caught & punished.
Were any of those Patriot superbowl trophies cancelled post deflate gate?

12 mlb teams are averaging 25k or less home attendence. The A's are lowest at 10k.
The dodgers are the lone team over 50k for home games. 51,623.
Avg ticket price to go to target field & watch the twins? $30.47.
Avg for a dodger game is almost $300.
Twins have drawn 384k in 20 home games to date.
Dodgers have 18 home games so far and have sold 929k tix. They go over 1million in the same 20 games as the twins. And get 10x ea. that $30 twins per ticket price. Plus the star power dodger roster leads to way more swag sold.

In 2025, the dodgers drew just over 4m fans.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2025
Add in its one of the most expensive stadium to sit in.

I just did the math. 4 mill attendence at $300 avg tix= $1.2b dodger gate in 2025.
The Twins? 1.75m tix at $30? Thats $52.5m.
The dodger ticket revenue alone is 24 times that of the twins. Add in the swag & concessions?

As pissed as we tc fans were at the trade deadline fire sale... Who can blame the owners.
Clearly a $140m tc player payroll was a far less sustainable endeavor than the Dodgers $500m vs $1.2b in gate receipts.
Granted- gate receipts are shared with vistors.
48% of concessions, parking and tix of all 30 teams go into a rev share pool. Amounting to each mlb team getting 3.3% of dodgers take- with didgers keeping 52% + a 3.3% share of league revenue share pool. The pool was around $10b total in 2025. $330m per team.