The Padres have made some nice runs, but have never recaptured the Randy Johnson/Dave Winfield glory days of nearly 40 years ago. They struggle with attendance, and are one of the teams always mentioned in contraction talks.
The Dodgers will soon be a great product again. Magic is the right owner for that club (if he doesn't sell it to buy the Lakers). They need new talent, and a stadium reno worthy of HGTV. other than that, they're good.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim should continue to be called the California Angels by all who value common sense in nomenclature. That said, they are an exciting team.
I'd now like to focus on the Bay Area for a moment.
After freezing their fans half to death in Candlestick, the Giants got a shiny new stadium that has already changed names three times. Sure, fans can catch errant balls in their beer cups while floating on a raft in McCovey Cove, but the bottom line is that this frou-frou, overhyped team has won only 4 pennants and 2 World Series titles in 45 years.
In that same timeframe, the Oakland A's, a team that plays in a city in which people actually work for a living (and a city with a vastly more interesting bridge) are the host to the much-maligned A's. The A's have one of the most undervalued stadiums in MLB, with it's wide foul areas making it a pitchers park. A family can still ride to the stadium on BART, and save their parking money for better tickets, or more beer. Yes, Oakland has had some dreadful years. The A's had Moneyball and Billyball. The A's also had 4 World Series titles in the same time frame the Giants have only had two. They won 6 pennants, and 15 Western Division titles in the same timeframe that the Giants won 4 pennants and 8 Western Division titles. In short, from a Baseball perspective, Oakland is a vastly superior city to San Francisco.
Nevertheless, I still say shorten the season to 100 games.
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