Jim Bowden hit Pirates fans with such an awful take even Dodgers fans will cringe

GM-turned-analyst Jim Bowden isn't known for his good takes. Sometimes it's impossible to tell if he's actually being serious or just trying to be inflammatory, but he still manages to rile up most fanbases with analyses that, at best, just don't feel plugged in to the teams that. are actually being analyzed.

His latest take on the Dodgers' competitive balance tax is one that Dodgers fans have heard before. The Dodgers are going to have to pay a lot for crashing through every luxury tax ceiling but they don't care and will continue to spend at this rate as long as they're able, yada yada.

But he also decided to throw a stray at Pirates fans, for some reason. In a conversation about the Dodgers, he said, "Pirates fans, for example, will get upset, and say 'It's not fair. The bottom 15 markets have not won a World Series in a decade.' Yeah, I get it, but I tell people as fans, you don't have to be a Pirates fan. You can retire as a Pirates fan or trade yourself to the Dodgers."

And it didn't even stop there. "As a fan, you can root for any team you want," he said. "You don't have to root for the team that's your home city. You can see the Dodgers come play in your home city. They'll come into Pittsburgh and beat you. If it bothers you that much, just become a Dodgers fan, it's fine."

Jim Bowden had an awful take on fandom that even Dodgers fans shouldn't abide by

You really know something's off when Dodgers fans feels compelled to stand up for Pirates fans (but maybe that just goes to show you how widely disliked Bowden is). He might've forgotten that the Dodgers did roll into Pittsburgh just this September, where they were swept and outscored 17-10, but LA fans certainly haven't.

Bowden's coverage is pretty wide-ranging and it's hard to discern a personal favorite, so maybe he's forgotten how connected baseball fans are to their cities, specifically how inextricably linked they are. Some would argue that it's the whole point. Pirates fans love their team and want it to be better because their sports inevitably reflect on their entire city, so they'll rightfully keep yelling at Bob Nutting and Ben Cherington with hopes that something will change. And they should.

Dodgers and Pirates fans have absolutely nothing to band together over most days out of the year, except perhaps to acknowledge the fact that Paul Skenes is a really good pitcher. If anyone could bring them together for an event rarer than a blue moon, it's Jim Bowden.