Could “tanking” in the MLB actually become a good thing for the game? Especially the Miami Marlins?
Miami Marlins rumors have been swirling with trade activity this whole off-season. The “fire sale” that they have been on has coined the terminology of “tanking” and its effects on the game of baseball.
I am not here to say that tanking is happening in the Major Leagues. However, the blueprint for having a successful team for poorly functioning franchises does require a form of “rebuild” process.
My biggest counter to the idea that there is abundant tanking is that there are only a select few teams that are actually doing this or have done this, and they were already bad, to begin with.
Take for example the Chicago Cubs leading up to their championship 2016 season. Theo Epstein took over as President of Baseball Operations in October of 2011. They were already a terrible team at that point trending even further down with a depleted farm system.
In 2012, the Chicago Cubs won only 61 games on a continual downward trends from years before of 83 wins, 75 wins, and 71 wins before Theo Epstein. Regardless of how bad that was, they were not “tanking,” rather restructuring their business model to make themselves better in the long-run. Without a farm system in place or proper management that was lacking for years, they were destined to go boom and bust as they were for decades. Ultimately that limited their chances of winning the World Series.
Now in the present day after their restructuring, they have developed a system to make themselves competitive in the long-term. My point is, the Cubs did not “tank,” they were already bad but found it necessary to provide a continuously good team on the field. To do so, they had to reorganize themselves.
Their most prominent competitor, the St. Louis Cardinals, have a business model that has led to over a decade of great success. That is the model everyone wants because once teams get through the restructuring process, they no longer have incredibly bad years. The Cardinals had a down year last year, but their “down year” was 83 wins and being knocked out of the postseason race in the final week.