Market Size Over Merit

CORRUPTION!

– by Mario Crescibene

Back before Quincy Wheeler gave me my big break writing for Covering the Corner, I was an unpublished journalist on Medium, uncovering corruption. I’ve exposed a corrupt shaman in the Amazon, possible antitrust violations at Medium itself, and the abuse of Latino workers at Selina Hostel. Now that the regular season has concluded, I’m setting my sights on another corrupt establishment: the national baseball media. Make no mistake — the national media doesn’t cover baseball; it markets it. They churn out clickbait, superficial articles that pander to big-market money while willfully ignoring the real stories taking place. This season has been no different, because today, the Cleveland Guardians led by should-be MVP candidate Jose Ramirez completed the unthinkable — clawing back from a 15.5-game deficit to capture the Central Division title — all while the national media looked the other way.

The corrupt media bought long ago by colluding elites, wrote them off from the very start of the season. ESPN ranked them as the 24th most watchable team. Pundits said they would be lucky to finish a .500 team. Toward the middle of the season, people were already calling for Stephen Vogt to be fired. And just a few weeks ago, the odds were stacked against them to even make the post season. Less than 1% chance of making the playoffs, according to every so-called expert and “analytical” model. And yet, here they are after doing something historic: Division Champions.

This isn’t a story of luck or easy wins. Every game was a battle, every comeback a declaration, and the entire run was pure cinema. Down by double digits, they clawed, scraped, and outworked every opponent. The Guardians didn’t just defy the odds — they rewrote them. And yet, as this historic surge unfolded, the national media yawned. The drama, the stakes, the heroics — invisible to the people who claim to cover baseball for a living.

Instead, they focused on the MVP race between Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge while completely ignoring the man leading the charge for the Guardians – Jose Ramirez. Ramírez could have cashed in with any of the big market teams — a New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago team would have crowned him as their face of the franchise, and the headlines would have been splashed across ESPN. That would have placed Ramirez’s constant heroics in “Top Plays” every week and would have given him the national attention that he truly deserves. Instead, he took a hometown discount to stay in Cleveland, to fight for this team, to fight for this city — spurning the national media and big-market money that demands compliance to its fiscally-focused narrative that panders to to market size over merit.

What the Guardians have accomplished this season is historic — no team in MLB history has ever climbed back from a 15.5-game deficit to win their division. How could the media let the story of the season go unnoticed. While the national media drooled over home runs hit by Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge, Jose Ramírez quietly led a team to do something no other team has done. How can he not be in the MVP conversation alongside those superstars — especially considering he doesn’t have the powerhouse roster that Raleigh and Judge enjoy?

From the very first day of the season, the Guardians were written off by the media. And yet this team, led by Ramírez, channeled the spirit of the Little Engine That Could, whispering “I think I can” with every game, every pitch, every swing…until the did.

Now they head into the postseason, set to host the Tigers. And while the corrupt media will likely continue to ignore them, focusing instead on the Yankees and Dodgers, the Guardians won’t stop at merely winning the division. They’ve silenced doubters, rewritten narratives, and shown the world that no deficit is too large, no odds too long. This team isn’t just playoff-bound — they’re division championships, and they’re just getting started. If anyone can do the unthinkable, it’s them—and this time, the media won’t be able to ignore them.