Doc's Morning Line: Be mad at the Reds if you like. At least they aren't the Cubs.

It can always be worse. The Reds might be testing that notion now, but when you look at it, their Infuriation Factor is no worse than the team they’re playing tonight at the Small Park.

The Cubs detonated their aging core at last year’s trade deadline, dealing three guys who’d become free agents after the season. For Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez, they received three kids currently in A ball, two in AA and one in AAA. Salary dumps all, by a franchise deemed 4th most valuable in baseball by Forbes magazine. From Sportsbank, a Chicago website:

Without Bryant, Rizzo and Baez, the Cubs as we’ve known them in the 2010s and 2020s are simply not the Cubs. Tom Ricketts (well more so Theo Epstein) did end the (championship) drought, yes, absolutely, positively, no one can take that away from them.

However, Ricketts gave up, shortly thereafter, in trying to field a competitive team. All he cared about was his revenue streams, his TV network and his ballpark neighborhood gentrification project.

There is no Wrigleyville anymore, it’s just Oakbrook Terrace mall with some baseball thematic principles applied.

You could argue the gentrification of Wrigleyville was a good thing. More overpriced bars, and the neighborhood has been polished to a high gloss. If you argue that, you probably never saw the old Wrigleyville, before the charm was scrubbed out of it. Not every square inch was looked upon as a revenue stream.

Such a getoffamylawn comment, Doctor.

No question. Your point is?

One of my favorite columns ever: 1989, Cubs-Giants playoffs. I wanted a peek inside one of the Waveland Avenue apartments just across the street from the LF wall. The game was at 2, I showed up on the street at 9 am and waited. Soon enough, a guy walked past and turned toward the apartment building. I asked him if he’d show me his place. He said OK.

It was a rent-controlled 2BR with a bay window overlooking left field. In 1989, there were no bleachers on the roof. Tenants were allowed to bring one guest per game as I recall, maybe two. It was folding chairs and Old Style on the roof. He paid $700 a month for the apartment, which he’d decorated like a Cubs museum.

If you’ve been to Wrigley, you know how the buildings on Waveland and Sheffield across from the ballpark loom over the place like a third deck. If you had really long arms, you could practically touch the ivy on the outfield walls.

Last September, when the Bengals were in town to play the Bears, I revisited Waveland, for I’m pretty sure was the first time since ’89. The building was unrecognizable. In ’89, it looked like a place a middle-class baseball fan would live. Last fall, it looked like the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with views of Central Park.

Reds ownership might have little excuse for the ransacking of the club. Ricketts has no excuse for fielding the current lousy team. Wrigley remains a cash machine. The Cubs remain in 3rd place in a mediocre division. The only difference is a couple billion in revenue streams.

Be pissed at the Reds if you like. You’re justified. But what’s worse: Not having money and not spending any, or having money and not spending any?

Now, then. . .

THIS IS A LITTLE WORRISOME. . . The last few times at Kroger, I started noticing empty shelves. I wanted propane for the grill. No propane. Hadn’t had any in a couple weeks, they told me. Didn’t know when they would. Yesterday, I wanted peppers, specifically red, orange or yellow, which are more flavorful than green. Only green were available.

Small sample size from an occasional-at-best shopper, I know. But does this trouble anyone else? Have you ever in your lifetime seen empty shelves at any time other than for toilet paper or owing to some sort of weather event?

I mean, eating green peppers instead of red isn’t exactly a catastrophe. It’s the idea that the shelves aren’t full.

On a related note:

Nebraska will suspend its tradition of releasing red balloons after the first touchdown of home games due to a global helium shortage, athletic director Trev Alberts announced on his radio show Monday. Alberts said Nebraska will not hand out red balloons before home games at Memorial Stadium this fall. The tradition of releasing the balloons after Nebraska's first touchdown at home began in the 1960s.

The helium shortage and supply-chain issues stem in part from sanctions against Russia, one of the world's top helium suppliers. (AP)

PKING SAYS THE DEFENDING AFC CHAMPS ARE #7. . . In the last 27 years, only one Super Bowl loser has won the conference championship the following season. . .

The right side of the offensive line, trampled in the Super Bowl, is all new: center Ted Karras, guard Alex Cappa, tackle La’el Collins. The loss of tight end C.J. Uzomah will be felt, but there’s enough firepower here for the Bengals to be a top five offense. I like Cincinnati to edge Baltimore for the division title, but a deep run will be tough with a first-place schedule—games at the Cowboys, the Saints, the Titans, the Bucs and the Patriots, and KC and Buffalo visiting the Queen City.

IMO, the aspect most overlooked last year was the Bengals phenomenal health. That’s luck. Will they be so fortunate a second year in a row?

And by the way, “deep run’’ is a dumb phrase, especially when applied to an NFL postseason of so few games. Is a “deep run’’ defined by. . . two playoff wins?

MORE RANKINGS. WE’RE NUMBER 30! The Ringer:

Cincinnati drew more than 43,000 fans to its home opener, but after a 3-22 start, the Reds have had fewer than 12,000 fans at seven of their past nine home games.

Not even Hunter Greene, the team’s most exciting young pitcher in years and certainly the hardest-throwing pitcher named after a color from the L.L. Bean catalog, can stem the tide. Eventually, the owners will so thoroughly abuse fan loyalty that it will start to cost them money. Eventually.

I DON’T GET THIS. A stat from a story in the NYTimes, about former golf courses turned into housing developments:

For residential developers, the opportunities are numerous: From 1986 to 2006, 4,400 new courses were built around the country, according to the National Golf Foundation, an industry research group. But since then, more than 1,000 have closed. For residential developers, the opportunities are numerous: From 1986 to 2006, 4,400 new courses were built around the country, according to the National Golf Foundation, an industry research group. But since then, more than 1,000 have closed.

Really? Try getting a tee time at a public course around here. In my experience, unless you can play at 3 in the afternoon on a Tuesday (just before the leagues tee off) you’re gonna be scrambling.

What courses around here have closed in, say, the past five years? None I play, but maybe you know a few.

QUITE POSSIBLY THE LAMEST TML in months. Apologies. We’ll do better tomorrow.

TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Bennett or Sinatra? I have no opinion on their voices. Both superb. I just always thought Bennett was a good dude, someone you could have a beverage with. Frank seemed scary and abrasive, mainly because he was. My favorite Sinatra tune was Strangers in the Night. This is m favorite Tony tune.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds vs. Cubs: MLB revenue streams tell different rebuilding story