You ask. I answer. It’s time for “Mailing It In,” a weekly Q&A that appears Tuesdays at TribLive.com. Most of the questions come via X, but you can also hit me up at jraystarkey@gmail.com. Let’s gooooooo …

Bob Sposito, @Sposito331: If you had to guess right now, will there be MLB played in 2027? Would you be willing to trade no baseball in 2027 if it meant more of a competitive balance between upper level spending teams (Dodgers) vs. lower level (Pirates)?

Starkey: Two spectacular — and depressing — questions, Dr. 331. Wouldn’t it just be the Pirates’ luck that as soon as they get good, baseball gets canceled.

Then again, as you suggest, some believe that might be what is best for the Pirates.

To answer your first question, yes, I expect baseball will be played in 2027. I’m with ESPN’s Jeff Passan on that one. Things are too good right now in baseball — revenue-wise, franchise selling price-wise — to squander a season.

More to the point, as Passan said recently to Michael Kay of ESPN New York, this is about television money. MLB needs to sign new deals in 2028, and ESPN, Netflix and every other network and streaming service are not going to be eager to pay top dollar for a league coming off a canceled season. Too much fan backlash.

The one way owners can make a killing the next few years is through massive new television deals. Passan estimates the annual payout could go from a little less than $2 billion per year to more than $6 billion per year, and he says the best way to create more parity is to spread that kind of wealth, rather than kill the sport for a salary cap.

So yes, I think baseball will be played. And no, I don’t think a wiped-out season would be a good thing, because I think the salary cap is a pipe dream.

Josh Howard, @jhow2687: Poni threw a theory out there yesterday that he believes the Steelers are trying to get Rodgers to break up with them. But my counterpoint to that is, do you offer a guaranteed contract to a person via UFA tender if you want them to break up with you? And also use various media outlets to set soft deadlines for an answer from him? Seems like the Steelers are the ones begging to get back together from my point of view.

Starkey: I also threw out that theory yesterday, Dr. 2687, because it does seem like the Steelers are trying to aggravate Aaron Rodgers, or at least move him to action. I wondered if maybe Art Rooney II wanted somebody to do the work for him here, kind of like how Mike Tomlin fired himself.

But I’m of two minds here. If the Steelers are trying to tick off Rodgers, why? It could be for contrasting reasons:

1 — They want him to break up with them.

2 — They want him to hurry up and sign.

I also threw out the theory that maybe the Steelers remain extremely confident that Rodgers will sign and simply want to make themselves look a little tougher here — leaking that their frustration is growing — instead of just being toyed with.

Bottom line: If I had to guess right now, Rodgers still signs, and they’d obviously like that to happen sooner rather than later.

Joel Alexander, @Joel_Closer: Do you see a scenario where Rodgers reports, Rodgers plays and then in the ultimate form of humiliation gets benched? Who, then, would they hand the rock to and how many games would it take to know what we have in Howard/Allar?

Starkey: Funny you should ask, Joel-ee. I put out a poll on “X” this morning asking Steelers fans who they want to play the majority of the season — Rodgers, Rudolph, Allar or Howard. At last check, it was Howard running away with it, pulling nearly 40% of the vote. Allar was second at around 27%.

One thing was clear: People want one of the younger guys to play.

How do I see it playing out if Rodgers were to stink and get benched? Well, Allar is Mike McCarthy’s guy. McCarthy pushed for that pick. He’ll want to give Allar a shot. The only caveat is that if the Steelers are banged up and having a terrible year, they might throw Howard to the wolves.

J, @Crossland895: Many Blessings, Joe! Should we have ripped Tomlin as hard as we did on his way out? Not for the lack of production on the field, but the way situations have been handled over the years (there’s about a million, take your pick). We’re months removed from his exit and the drama feels largely the same. Thoughts?

Starkey: I’m not sure it was the “drama” that people focused on, Dr. 895. It was the fact that the Steelers have not come close to winning a playoff game in nine years. There are only three teams in the AFC with a longer playoff-win drought, and they are named “the Raiders,” “the Jets,” and “the Dolphins.”

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And it was only getting worse, as the Texans playoff loss would attest. That was the most lopsided home playoff defeat in franchise history. Geez, even Tomlin himself admitted on his NBC debut that he wasn’t doing a good enough job.

Matt Choate, @mattchoate: Dr Starkey. With the terrible news of the Tarik Skubal injury would this be an opportunity for the Pirates to approach Mr. Skenes to try to lock him up with some big guaranteed dollars and maybe get a year or two of FA bought out?

Starkey: I don’t think any other player’s injury will scare Skenes into taking a deal he doesn’t want to sign, Dr. C — and assuming he stays healthy, the deal he will someday sign will be historic. I think that ship has sailed with the Pirates. I hope I’m wrong.

Tim McAloon, @tjmcaloonsr: Thinking back to Pickett’s 2023 season, coming of a perfect preseason his career may have been better if the Steelers didn’t have the 49ers as the first game of the season. SF’s five sacks and dominant performance changed his career’s trajectory. Scale of 1-10, how much do you disagree?

Starkey: I just think Kenny Pickett’s not an NFL starter, Dr. T — but I have no doubt that 49ers injured his confidence and the team’s going into the rest of that season. They were basically told right away that they had zero hope of competing with the league’s elite. That’s how bad that beatdown was.

Ryan Jones, @ryanJon08044492: Do you move Carmen Mlodzinski to bullpen when Jared Jones comes back or six-man rotation to watch Ashcraft and Chandler innings?

Starkey: Honestly? I go out and get a dependable, veteran lefty for the rotation and use both Jones and Mlodzinski out of the bullpen — and I keep a close eye on Bubba Chandler.

Don’t get me wrong. I give Chandler plenty of time here, but if this gets worse, he might need some more seasoning in the minors. Hopefully, it gets better.

Ed Helinski, @MrEd315: Without grading on a curve, what overall letter grade do you give the Pirates as we near the first quarter mark of the season? And why?

Starkey: I’d give them a B , Mr. Ed, because they are on pace to win 88 games, and that is all that matters. There have been some rough spots, for sure. Some bad signs. But they have won 19 of 35 games, and if they keep that pace, they have a good shot at the playoffs.

Joe Custer, @colonelflan42: Name three players who the Pens could realistically get who would be better and more cost effective then Geno. #resigngeno

Starkey: When you add “cost effective,” General Custer, there aren’t many. That is one of the many reasons I believe the Penguins should bring back Malkin. You might have missed my column.

Salvadore, @SavladoreYoga: Which do you prefer, a Sabres Game 7 loss this year in the Stanley Cup or the Bills losing the SB next February on a last second FG?

Starkey: This made me laugh, Dr. Yoga, although it could also make me cry. I guess I would prefer a gut-wrenching hockey loss, just for something new.

And thank you for asking.