For a while there, DCist was willing accept that maybe MLB wasn’t all bad, just misunderstood. That maybe this whole “greed” thing had been blown out of proportion. That the “liberal media” wasn’t given them a fair shake.

Nope. They’re just evil. Plain, unadulterated, saturated, concentrated evil.

Today the Post is carrying a story explaining that those misers over that MLB have instructed the eight groups bidding for the Washington Nationals (and expected to pay $450 million for them) not to offer the District any financial assistance for the construction of a new stadium. The stadium lease is opposed by at least eight members of the D.C. Council, all of whom have expressed concern over the rising costs of a stadium whose price-tag fast rose from $535 million to $667 million, without including possible cost overruns. A financial offer from a bidding group would probably buy enough votes to let the lease breeze through the council, but the MLB team owners, being what they are, don’t like this option. Why? The Post explains:

Baseball officials are concerned that if bidders offer to pay for some of the stadium construction, the city will try to drive up the future contribution of whichever group gets the team. That, in turn, could force the bidders to try to lower their bids for the franchise, some baseball officials have said.

Oh, we get it! If a bidding group offers, let’s say, $100 million towards the stadium’s construction, that which would secure the council’s endorsement of the lease, they may not want to pay the full $450 million for the team. They might instead offer to pay $400 million, leaving MLB with a measly profit of only $280 million (they bought the team in 2002 for $120 million). That’s just shy of $10 million for each team owner. Well, in that case, they may as well just give the team away! What’s one to do with a cool $10 million?

Ok, so we’re being a little sarcastic here. But truly, the depths to which MLB will go to prove that they are greedy monopolists sees no bounds.