Arizona and Tampa Bay in the Postseason is Great, But Higher Payroll Still = Better Chance of Getting to October
By Jason McIntyre
1. New York Yankees $201,689,030 (AL East)
2. Philadelphia Phillies $172,976,381 (NL East)
10. Detroit Tigers $105,705,232 (AL Central)
11. St. Louis Cardinals $105,433,572 (NL wild card)
13. Texas Rangers $92,299,265 (AL West)
17. Milwaukee Brewers $85,497,333 (NL Central)
25. Arizona Diamondbacks $53,639,833 (NL West)
29. Tampa Bay Rays $41,932,171 (AL wild card)
We’ve mentioned on this site many times that because there isn’t a salary cap in baseball, the teams that spend have a clear advantage and it has created an unfair playing field in baseball over the last decade. Darren Rovell decided to look at the last decade’s postseason teams vs. their payrolls and the results weren’t surprising:
"I looked at the final season payrolls from 2001-2010 and came up with these odds. Of the 78 teams who made the playoffs, 48 of them (61.5 percent) were among the top 10 highest spenders. Eighteen of them (23.1 percent) ranked in 11th to 20th in league payroll. And 12 playoff teams (15.4 percent) came out of the bottom third of payroll."
Imagine if the Red Sox weren’t drinking during games. You know we’d be talking about how the teams with the top three payrolls made the postseason. I’ll let Giants fans bring up Buster Posey’s ankle. [CNBC]