Thats my problem. From what we have seen the only reason that the Saviors are bad guys is because they are sadists. If they weren't such aholes when dealing with other groups they would be Rick and his group.
And Rick didn't do things as bad as Negan, which is why I call him an over the top cartooney villain, but they have done some bad things. Killed those cannibal guys in cold blood. Stole the guns from the girl group that were left almost defensless. Made a deal with hilltop to go and murder all those saviors at the outpost to get supplies and if I remember correctly they were contemplating just using force against hilltop anyways.
As the seasons have gone by I find I am having less sympathy for our main group. I don't know maybe thats the point the writers want to get across and want to blur the lines, but that doesn't make an interesting show where you don't have a protagonist you want to root against the antagonist. Negan is just doing what he needs to do to keep his people safe, just he does it with a tinge of villainy because if the writers didn't do that then we wouldn't be forced to cheer for Rick. And last episode they killed like 50 people or something. I get its a war but I am not feeling any sympathy for any of these murderes.
Well "are we the baddies" is one of the central themes of the show since season 2. I would agree it's gotten tiring with people flipping back and forth between pacifist and terminator as the wind blows but that's about really all the show has left. We all know by know when push comes to shove Rick will put his family/groups survival above some randoms. Hell they even got that preacher dude to kill some saviors iirc.
Really assuming they defeat the saviors what's next? Some other group will come up and start shit and the cycle begins again. Everyone alive now has pretty much learned to deal with zombies so they aren't much of a threat.
The show probably should have ended after the prison but $$$ so round and round we go.