It is sometimes said that politics and sports are incompatible.
But frankly, sports has politics, and sports is deeply political.
Returning to the intersection of politics and sports, the baseball regular season is nearing its end. Cincinnati Reds The Dallas Mavericks (my team, by the way) just fired manager David Bell after a disappointing season with a few games left in the season. Other teams will likely fire their managers soon, too. Colorado, Miami, Toronto, and possibly the Los Angeles Dodgers could all have openings depending on how they perform in the postseason.
But the Reds were a special case. High hopes were placed on stars Hunter Greene and Ellie de la Cruz. Plenty of speed. Rookies. With one of the best starting rotations in the league, some believed the Reds could win their division and, after years of underachievement, compete for the National League pennant.
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However, the Reds, who are the most disappointing team in MLB after the Toronto Blue Jays, have been in an ongoing “rebuild” cycle since 2013. They have not won a postseason playoff series since 1995. The Reds have not appeared in the World Series since 1990.
Wait until next year, they say.
Now consider Congress and its spending bills.
It's hard not to see the parallels between politics and sports, especially when congressional leaders' annual struggle to secure government funding coincides with financial close for many struggling MLB teams. (Left: Bonnie Cash/Getty Images, Right: Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
The end of the government's fiscal year coincides almost perfectly with the baseball season. The last day of the government's fiscal year is September 30. The last day of baseball's regular season is September 29. A few teams make the playoffs, but most, like the Reds, take it easy and head home for the winter.
The same goes for parliament.
Since the 1990s, Congress has struggled to approve 12 spending bills to keep the government running on time, resulting in a variety of partisan political feuds, several long and ugly government shutdowns, and little progress. Despite constant promises from bipartisan lawmakers to do better next time, Congress has made few reforms to pass bills on time over the decades.
Sound familiar, Reds fans?
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The House was on the brink of a government shutdown this time last fall. After the House stumbled, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) finally introduced a straightforward bill that would fund the government at current spending levels without additional funding until early November. The government remained unshutdowned. McCarthy blasted Democrats for not passing individual spending bills by rule when they were in the majority, but Republicans didn't have much to offer. In fiscal year 2023 (when Democrats controlled Congress), the House approved six individual spending measures; the Senate zero. In fiscal year 2024 (after Republicans asserted control of the House), the Republican-led House passed seven bills; the Senate three. For fiscal year 2025 (the year Congress is currently working on), the House approved five bills; the Senate zero.
When House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, took office in October, he wanted the House to continue working on individual spending bills and to proceed “by the book.” In the meantime, Congress continued to adopt stopgap bills to fund the government, with Johnson's approval. That continued until April of this year. Johnson told lawmakers he would continue to push for passage of individual spending measures for fiscal year 2025, which begins October 1.
Though temporary bills have been passed regularly during Johnson's term, the House soon found itself in an all-too-familiar situation, failing to secure the votes needed to even raise funding in July. (Aaron Schwartz/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The House again achieved moderate but unremarkable success: it approved five appropriations bills for defense, energy and water, the Department of the Interior, military construction and veterans' affairs, and the Department of State and foreign affairs.
In an embarrassing vote on July 11, the House of Representatives failed to approve a “legislative” spending bill. In other words, the House couldn't even fund itself. Jokes flew around Capitol Hill that Congress had learned its lesson. Maybe it wasn't entitled to an annual budget.
So Congress finds itself in a similar situation again this year: In the fall of 2023, conservatives criticized McCarthy for not convening Congress during its August recess to work on a budget. Republicans are making similar accusations this time around.
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“I think this is a total failure of the speaker's strategy,” complained Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. “We weren't here all of August. We could have gotten 12 separate budget bills done.”
So now Johnson finds himself in the same predicament that McCarthy found himself in at this time last year. The House will vote on a stopgap spending bill just to keep the economy afloat. It's worth noting that Johnson wanted a bill that would last until next spring, but the best he could get was a bill that would last until December 20th. Johnson's lack of desire for a “Christmas omnibus” spending bill led him to push for a longer-term spending bill, among other reasons.
That could happen if lawmakers are unable to move some bills forward between now and mid-December.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia blasted the speaker's “strategy has completely failed” amid the government's recent funding woes. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
But this is similar to what we saw last year, and we're seeing the same thing repeated with spending. Like McCarthy, some conservatives may call for Johnson to be fired, especially if Republicans maintain control of the House. A mid-December budget deadline puts Johnson in a real bind, especially if he's up for reelection as Speaker on January 3rd.
Here we see the connection between politics and sports.
Cincinnati Reds fans have had their hopes dashed season after season, with catcher Devon Mesoraco's chances dashed in 2014 when he suffered a serious hip injury after making the All-Star game.
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During the rebuilding process, the Reds traded ace starting pitcher Johnny Cueto to Kansas City, and the two pitchers they received as “compensation” went a combined 4-24 with ERAs of 5.44 and 6.25 for the Reds.
Cincinnati traded flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman to the New York Yankees in 2015. In exchange for Chapman, the Yankees sent Caleb Cotham, who is now the pitching coach for the Philadelphia Phillies. Cotham was forced into retirement due to a knee injury. In exchange for Chapman, the Reds also acquired Rookie Davis, who quickly proved he was best suited to the rookie league game and not the major leagues. Davis went 1-3 with an 8.63 ERA for Cincinnati.
Understood.
A possible change in the “ruling” of the House — whether Republicans oust Speaker Johnson or Democrats take control of the House — could happen in the next Congress. (Getty Images)
It's unclear who the Reds will hire as their new manager, but as the saying goes, the best way to predict future performance is past performance, so despite a few promising players, cynical Cincinnati fans aren't optimistic that things will be different under new leadership next season.
This brings me back to the House and our position on the spending bill.
He will likely promise to do better next year and get the bill passed on time, but political realities could get in the way of that, including a move to oust Johnson or Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives and a change in “government.”
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Either way, those who study Congress know that the fall and winter of 2025 are unlikely to be any different from this year (or the past few years) in terms of getting spending done on time and avoiding a government shutdown.
But you never know what will happen, and as they say in baseball, there's always next year.
