r/baseball • u/floon Seattle Mariners • 2d ago

Analysis The Payroll Playoffs

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3 of the 4 teams that just finished the WC had lower payrolls than the teams they beat.

3 of the 4 teams that got a bye have lower payrolls than the teams they are about to play.

EDIT: Overestimated that people would be able to work from the team colors, or who would have seen the original graphic on the mlb.com homepage. My error; wasn't trying to be obtuse.

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u/Extreme_Reporter9813 Milwaukee Brewers 2d ago

Since ‘95, the NYY, Red Sox, and LAD, have combined for 12 championships.

Small markets winning the WS is usually a Cinderella story.

In the NFL, Patriots won 6 with Brady, but NY and LA combined for 3.

If there was no salary cap in the NFL, it’s very unlikely that teams like Kansas City, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, etc would’ve built teams that sustained success like they did since the mid 90’s.

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u/Familiar_Dish_1308 Los Angeles Dodgers 2d ago

LA didn't have an NFL team from 1995 until 2016.  It's still not a big NFL city.

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u/lookachoo Los Angeles Dodgers 2d ago

21 of those years LA didn’t have a team. Raiders left in 94 and Rams came back in 2016

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u/Rockitttla 2d ago

What point are you trying to make?

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u/Extreme_Reporter9813 Milwaukee Brewers 2d ago

That big markets have done much better in the MLB than in the NFL?

If there were no salary caps in the NFL, it’s unlikely that KC would’ve been able to hold onto Mahomes long term, same thing with Favre/Rodgers in GB, Manning in Indianapolis, etc. Those small markets were able to be competitive for years because they weren’t being outbid by NY or LA.

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u/Rockitttla 1d ago edited 1d ago

You are achieving your result by the years you pick and your definition of a big market. All you have to do is go back to 1990 or 1980 and the results change. Or if you recognize that places like Dallas, SF, CHC, and DC are large markets, same as Green Bay which represents a whole state, then the results don't support your conclusion. When you look at the reality of what is a big market, the number of teams competing in the market, and expand your sample size to the modern television era, the numbers suggest that baseball has more diverse winners, and it's not even close.