F the Dodgers and F every large market money grubbing MLB team. Give me a salary cap or give me a work stoppage. I’m tired of seeing teams buy championships. If there isn’t a salary cap invoked, I’d just as soon not see baseball.
The 2024 Brewers season ended with a bite from the Big Apple, and as the playoffs roll toward the concluding World Series, one thing is apparent--while money cannot buy happiness, it does seem pretty good at buying championships.
The one last hope of all the small-market teams is the Cleveland Guardians, who currently trail the New York Yankees in the ALCS, 3 games to 1. Depending on where you look (
Baseball-Reference,
USA Today,
spotrac, the remaining teams rank 1st/2nd (New York Yankees), 1st/3rd (New York Mets), 3rd/4th/5th (Los Angeles Dodgers), and 23rd/28th (Cleveland Guardians) in league payroll.
It does seem like high-salary teams win it all every year, but how do they rank and more importantly, how do the Brewers compare? I went through al
Since 1995, 48% of the champions and 38% of the contestants in the World Series have had top 5 payrolls. 93% of the champions and 83% of the contestants have been in the top half of payroll. Only two low-payroll teams have won it all -- the 2002 Anaheim Angels and the 2003 Florida Marlins. It has been two decades since that has happened.
The list of losing World Series teams in the bottom half of payroll for the season includes the 2007 Rockies, 2008 and 2020 Rays, 2010 Rangers, 2014 Royals, 2015 Mets, 2016 Indians, and 2023 Diamondbacks.
Only nine times in 29 years (31%), has the team with the lower payroll in the World Series beaten the team with the higher payroll. Of those winners, three of them had top 10 payrolls themselves, and seven were in the top half of the league.