Rob Manfred responds to Dodgers fans' problem with ignorant solution involving Angels

A hot-button issue in the United States of America concerns its national pastime and the barrier to entry that exists for lower income families. The sport is ubiquitous, meaning that it is seemingly always in-season and allows everybody the opportunity to see their favorite team and players at the ballpark. However, the teams that spend massive amounts of money on the on-field product, like the Angels' cross-town rivals, preclude many people from watching Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and co. due to massive ticket prices in the playoffs, regular season and even spring training. Well, the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred, turned in an absolutely baffling and tone deaf alternative for Dodgers fans who cannot afford tickets.

Per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times: "If local fans consider the Dodgers’ prices too high, Manfred suggested where they could find a cost-effective alternative. 'One of the leaders in terms of thinking about affordability has been the other Los Angeles team,' Manfred said."

Manfred completely ignores the regionality of baseball. The sport's popularity has been suffering for more than a decade because the pastime is no longer national. The common/casual baseball fan more often than not watches their favorite team and not the league as a whole. To suggest that a person who lives in Los Angeles should just go watch the Angels instead of the Dodgers is absurd because that person probably does not care about the Angels whatsoever. They care about the Dodgers, not simply wanting to watch any major league baseball game. Especially an Angels game.

Many Angels fans bemoan Arte Moreno's decision to name the team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim before the 2005 season -- one of his first acts as the owner of the team -- and eventually just the Los Angeles Angels before the 2016 season. At its genesis, the team was called the Los Angeles Angels from 1961-1964. They became the California Angels for 31 years, then the Anaheim Angels from 1997-2004. The residents of Orange County rarely associate themselves with Los Angeles. Plus, as Sam Blum of The Athletic put it, it's not easy to get from Los Angeles to Anaheim.

Manfred does not make it easy on fans to express their fandom, and it might be because he does not know what it means to be a fan. The sport has roaming blackouts of game coverage, the ticket prices are sky-rocketing, and the marketing of the sport and its best players has been lackluster for some time. There's a reason why baseball is spiraling down the list of priorities for sports fans. The commissioner invoking Angels fandom as an apt replacement for Dodgers fandom is not based in reality. Get a grip, Rob.

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