So where does this leave us?
Well, it's actually fairly orderly going into the 1990 OA season.
- Two clubs - the Red Sox and White Sox - have moved down from the Penthouse to the Skylobby.
- Two clubs - the Tigers and Twins - have moved up from the Skylobby to the Penthouse.
- Two clubs - the Brewers and "my" Blue Jays - have moved down from the Skylobby to the Basement.
- And, finally, two clubs - the Guardians and Mariners - have moved up from the Basement to the Skylobby.
You saw earlier how the franchises' respective finances looked at the outset. Here's how they look on the day FAs declared in 1989.
It took a fair bit of "guidance" from me in the early part, but they seem to now have settled down. Over the course of the 1980s, the average budget went from $47.6m to $72.5m, a jump of 52.3%, with the outliers changing from $83.5m / $21.9m in 1980 to $138m / $36.5m now.
One aspect that is inexplicably strange is how strong the fan interest is for the Basement League - every club bar the O's at 100, whereas only three clubs in total from the other two levels are at the max, with the M's - recently promoted from the Basement - at 99. Of those three, two - the Mets and Tigers - were recently promoted. Still, that bottom level scenario is baffling.