Let’s talk about perceptions and realities. The perception is that with the Yankees acquiring Alex Rodriguez, the rest of MLB is mad as heck and isn’t going to take it anymore.

The reality is the Red Sox are boiling mad, but a lot of other teams are saying, “Thank you very much.”

The Yankees payroll will be about $182 million. The Sox will be second at $125 million. Sox owner John Henry now says there needs to be a salary cap “to deal with a team that has gone so insanely far beyond the resources of all the other teams.”

It’s not that simple. Teams like Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Texas, Montreal, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, San Diego and Colorado, just off the top, are very quiet. They will be getting a multi-million dollar check from the Yankees as their portion of the revenue sharing the Yankees contribute for going over the salary limit.

Additionally, none of these teams face any pressure to win. Nobody expects them to, not when the Yankees and a couple of other big spenders have rounded up the stars.

For now, they can be nice, quiet franchises that take in revenue, spend little and go home in September.

Overall, MLB generates enormous publicity with the Rodriguez deal, the “despise the Yankee crusade” and the “Yankee watch” which will engage every fan for the entire season.

Every town the Yankees play in will sell even more tickets this year, more Yankee memorabilia will be sold than ever and TV ratings will head up as the Yankees appear constantly on Fox and ESPN. All that money gets spread around MLB.

Owners and fans in the quiet cities will bemoan Yankee dominance and shriek regarding the Yankee payroll. Nobody in the front offices of those cities will be complaining when the checks roll in.

Oakland will continue its winning on a budget. The Dodgers will try the Oakland plan. Philadelphia will sell out its new yard. The Cubs will make a fortune. And, yes, some teams will struggle on and off the field, just like always.

The perception that the Yankees are monetarily destroying MLB and the reality of what they give to MLB are not the same.

That does not mean such rampant spending can go on forever without doing damage. At some point fans might just tire of it all, especially if every year it’s the same teams winning and losing.

Of course, that’s where the Marlins and Diamondbacks and Twins and Oakland and the Angels come in. Teams not expected to compete do. Every year there is some Cinderella team that makes a run. Sure, the Yankees are there, too, for the past decade, but not alone.

Then there are the Sox. Does anyone think they are going to lose money this year? Will there be fewer fans at Fenway because A-Rod signed in the Big Apple?

The uproar is publicity. It’s a business and we the fans continue to be more than willing to pay the freight, whatever the deal, whatever the cost.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.