With the 2019 season off and running, Major League Baseball stars across the league are looking to bring their respective teams to the World Series. Players like Manny Machado, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout have all struck massive new deals, but will any of these guys even get a sniff at a championship?

During the offseason, a handful of baseball players were blessed with some of the biggest contracts in sports history. It started with Manny Machado, who was dealt to the San Diego Padres for $300 million over 10 years. Machado, a four-time All-Star and a two-time Golden Glove winner, is one of the league’s best talents. Next was Bryce Harper, who was dealt from Washington to Philadelphia for $330 million over 13 years. To many, this is a deserving contract for the 26-year-old slugger. Lastly, the biggest one of all: Mike Trout was re-signed by the Los Angeles Angels for about $430 million over 12 years. Out of the three players mentioned, Trout is arguably the most deserving of his monster deal. However, three of these guys have one thing in common: They all have zero championships.

Granted, these are all decently young players who have plenty of time left in their careers. But, $36 million a year for one single player, even one as good as Trout, is a ridiculous sum of money. The MLB has no salary cap, so owners can pay their players as they please. It seems as if each of these players wanted to go down as having the biggest contract of the offseason. Trout though, had the last laugh.

All I can say is, these guys better win a ring at some point. If not, it’ll be the biggest waste of money I’ve seen since the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford. The Padres, Phillies and Angels were all below .500 teams last season. I just can’t see one man becoming the savior for each of these teams. Sure, it must’ve taken some serious guts for these owners to invest that much dough into into one player. Unless you’re a National Football League quarterback, MLB pitcher or a National Hockey League goalie, you simply don’t have a big enough effect on the game to completely carry a team. One guy can never do it all. I understand that these three fellas are some of the best at their craft and they deserve to be paid for their talents, but this money could go to so many different places.

Machado probably wakes up everyday in a huge mansion, throws on some Gucci flip flops and whips to the stadium. He’ll lace up his cleats, hit a dinger and field a few ground balls. Then he gets to go back to that same mansion and do it all again the following day. What a rough life. So why toss $30 million a year his way? It’s not like he’s an NFL offensive lineman, having to fight off several 300-pound defensive tackles a game. It’s not like he’s out of breath from balling up and down the court all night. He didn’t just get his teeth knocked out by Zdeno Chara. I wonder if any of these guys ever even break a sweat throughout the course of a game. Let’s be honest, the only running these guys do is from base to base or fielding a ball. That’s it. Then four, maybe five times a game, they’ll stand in a batter’s box and swing a Louisville slugger a few times. How exhilarating! The point is, baseball isn’t a physically demanding sport. If you can throw and bat well, you’re golden. There’s no hustle or grind. It’s all talent.

Professional ball players most definitely deserve to be paid. They generate so much money for their organizations that it would be silly for them not to get their own piece of the pie. But, a half-billion dollars is quite the slice. Why shouldn’t our soldiers get paid a tremendous amount of money? They risk their lives and complete tasks that actually matter. They work hard every day and miss out on so many simple things in life. Yet, they don’t get paid accordingly. Predictably, MLB salaries are going to rise and rise as the years go on. Hopefully, the players who earn it can use it do some good in the world.

Brendan Lally is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].