The Best Team Money Can Buy - MLB

[Minniman]

Year: 2009

Team Total payroll Record (Top 8 in bold) Post Season Teams Indicated

New York Yankees $ 201,449,189 ... 103-59 ALE
New York Mets $ 149,373,987 ... 70-92
Chicago Cubs $ 134,809,000 ... 83-78
Boston Red Sox $ 121,745,999 ... 95-67 ALWC
Detroit Tigers $ 115,085,145 ... 86-77

Los Angeles Angels $ 113,709,000 ... 97-65 ALW
Philadelphia Phillies $ 113,004,046 ... 93-69 NLE
Houston Astros $ 102,996,414 ... 74-88
Los Angeles Dodgers $ 100,414,592 ... 95-67 NLW
Seattle Mariners $ 98,904,166 ... 85-77

Atlanta Braves $ 96,726,166 ... 86-76
Chicago White Sox $ 96,068,500 ... 79-83
San Francisco Giants $ 82,616,450 ... 88-74
Cleveland Indians $ 81,579,166 ... 65-97
Toronto Blue Jays $ 80,538,300 ... 75-87

Milwaukee Brewers $ 80,182,502 ... 80-82
St. Louis Cardinals $ 77,605,109 ... 91-71 NLC
Colorado Rockies $ 75,201,000 ... 92-70 NLWC
Cincinnati Reds $ 73,558,500 ... 78-84
Arizona Diamondbacks $ 73,516,666 ... 70-92

Kansas City Royals $ 70,519,333 ... 65-97
Texas Rangers $ 68,178,798 ... 87-75
Baltimore Orioles $ 67,101,666 ... 64-98
Minnesota Twins $ 65,299,266 ... 87-76 ALC
Tampa Bay Rays $ 63,313,034 ... 84-78

Oakland Athletics $ 62,310,000 ... 75-87
Washington Nationals $ 60,328,000 ... 59-103
Pittsburgh Pirates $ 48,693,000 ... 62-99
San Diego Padres $ 43,734,200 ... 75-87
Florida Marlins $ 36,834,000 ... 87-75

Five of the top nine teams in payroll made the playoffs (56%).

All division winning teams that made the playoffs without a top nine payroll were from central divisions.

Of the eight best teams in baseball by record, all were in the top 2/3 in payroll. One playoff team, the Twins, was not in the top 2/3 in payroll (winning in a tie breaker game against a top five team in payroll).

A top payroll does not guarantee success, as some teams underachieved (Mets, Astros), and some teams overachieved (Twins, Marlins, Rays, Rockies, ...). That stated, Major League Baseball is now set up to allow more high salried teams into the playoffs with a wild card, and allows central division teams to have illusions of having better teams than they really have.

[purple guy]

This is what I hope the NFL DOES NOT turn into. Knowing 50% of the playoff teams before the season even starts. If Jerry Jones has his way, the NFL would be exactly the same, hope it never comes to that. Interesting post, thanks.

[Minniman]

x-Minnesota 87-76 .534 ... 10-22 19-21 .402
Detroit 86-77 .528 ... 15-21 22-14 .513
Chicago Sox 79-83 .488 ... 18-21 15-18 .458
Cleveland 65-97 .401 ... 19-21 11-21 .417
Kansas City 65-97 .401 ... 14-25 11-22 .333

x-St. Louis 91-71 .562 ... 17-16 19-15 .537
Chicago Cubs 83-78 .516 ... 15-17 15-20 .447
Milwaukee 80-82 .494 ... 19-15 14-20 .493
Cincinnati 78-84 .481 ... 16-19 10-22 .388
Houston 74-88 .457 ... 16-17 21-15 .552
Pittsburgh 62-99 .385 ... 18-16 12-24 .448

Note: NLC only plays 67 games in East and West, while the ALC plays 72 games in East and West. Interleague games are not listed, as they are harder to break down.

Detroit, a top five team in salary, had over a .500 record against the East/West. St. Louis, the 17th salaried team, had over .500 record against East/West teams but still far below its overall winning percentage. Houston, the eighth highest salaries team, had an above .500 winning percentage against the East/West teams, but for some reason they got beat up against their division rivals.

Only three teams, Houston (8th), Pittsburgh (28th), and Cleveland (14th) did better against East/West teams than overall. They all faltered in their own divisions though. Cleveland did it by beating up on low salaried Baltimore.

One should note here how poorly central division teams did against East/West teams. It is clear that central division teams benefit from playing more games against middle and low salaried teams.

Of all of the eleven central division teams, only one, St. Louis, would even be in the pennant race in the old two division no wild-card structure of Major League Baseball.

[Minniman]

How did East/West teams do against central division teams?

*-NY Yankees 103-59 .636 ... 25-9 .735
y-Boston 95-67 .586 ... 26-12 .684
Tampa Bay 84-78 .519 ... 19-20 .487
Toronto 75-87 .463 ... 23-15 .605
Baltimore 64-98 .395 ... 17-20 .459

x-LA Angels 97-65 .599 ... 27-17 .613
Texas 87-75 .537 ... 21-19 .525
Seattle 85-77 .525 ... 22-25 .468
Oakland 75-87 .463 ... 26-17 .605

x-Philadelphia 93-69 .574 ... 23-16 .588
Florida 87-75 .537 ... 18-21 .461
Atlanta 86-76 .531 ... 20-20 .500
NY Mets 70-92 .432 ... 23-17 .575
Washington 59-103 .364 ... 16-27 .372

*-LA Dodgers 95 67 .586 ... 22-19 .537
y-Colorado 92 70 .568 ... 31-11 .738
San Francisco 88 74 .543 ... 22-18 .550
San Diego 75 87 .463 ... 21-22 .488
Arizona 70 92 .432 ... 20-21 .488

N.Y. Yankees (1) .735 - The best got better against small salaried central teams.
N.Y. Mets (2) .575 - Big money doesn't pay off against big money for the Mets, but it pays off well against small money.
Boston (4) .684 - The same as New York, but not as much money and not as many wins.

L.A. Angels (6) .613 - A little better, but lots of big money wins all around on a down year for some of this teams players.
Philadelphia (7) .588 - A little better, but as more teams with similar salaries are thrown into the mix, the rewards are less.
L.A. Dodgers (9) .537 - Dodgers did a bit worse.
Seattle (10) .468 - Did a bit worse against the central.

One can see that as teams get away from the Yankees/Mets salaries, it starts to even out more. Having $150 million more in salaries has greater effect than having $50 million more in salaries. $50 million more has an advantage than $25 million.

There are some teams that do well despite being salary handicap, but it is an uphill battle. Colorado, Oakland, Cleveland, and Minnesota bleed players to the huge salaried teams. How much better would Minnesota have done with Johan Santana? How much better would Cleveland have done with C.C. Sabathia (forced trade last season)?

[Hunter Morrow]

I wonder what the salary comparisons look like in other sports?

Also, I think baseball has to have the crappiest fans and the stingiest ownerships in all of sports. Look at the way the Marlins get treated. You'd never, EVER think they were a team that has won the World Series twice in 12 years, once as recently as 2003 against the most expensive team in baseball. Its a freakin' joke that they have a 30ish million dollar payroll and can hardly even manage to sell half their seats in a relatively new stadium in Florida.

They're gonna get a new stadium with a retractable roof that doesn't even seat 40,000 people when several college football and basketball teams can get attendance near that to three times that with no effort at all.

What a sick joke.

[thatguy]

I f****** hate you New York Yankees...

[glg]

I wonder what the salary comparisons look like in other sports?

Also, I think baseball has to have the crappiest fans and the stingiest ownerships in all of sports. Look at the way the Marlins get treated. You'd never, EVER think they were a team that has won the World Series twice in 12 years, once as recently as 2003 against the most expensive team in baseball. Its a freakin' joke that they have a 30ish million dollar payroll and can hardly even manage to sell half their seats in a relatively new stadium in Florida.

They're gonna get a new stadium with a retractable roof that doesn't even seat 40,000 people when several college football and basketball teams can get attendance near that to three times that with no effort at all.

What a sick joke.

The Marlins are kinda a separate issue from payroll. MLB should have never expanded to Florida. It was a huge mistake.

[Minniman]

The Marlins are kinda a separate issue from payroll. MLB should have never expanded to Florida. It was a huge mistake.

If the Marlins could expand their TV rights to Cuba and The Dominican Republic, they'd be huge.

Other than that, there are too many transplants in Florida with their old team loyalties. It is hard to create new loyalties.

[vikesfan87]

Don't forget that Joe Robbie Stadium was not designed for baseball in the slightest. Heck, it isn't the nicest football stadium either. The Marlins seem to be plagued by the same problem that their State rivals, the Rays have. They both need new stadiums, but low attendance seems to make the progress on that slower, but yet attendance likely won't improve until they get new stadiums.

[Minniman]

Don't forget that Joe Robbie Stadium was not designed for baseball in the slightest. Heck, it isn't the nicest football stadium either. The Marlins seem to be plagued by the same problem that their State rivals, the Rays have. They both need new stadiums, but low attendance seems to make the progress on that slower, but yet attendance likely won't improve until they get new stadiums.

The Twin did get their new ballpark, and they sent their ace pitcher packing. Now there is talk of their best hitter, and a local hero, being signed by the Yankees or Red Sox when he reaches free agency. The system bites.

[Minniman]

2009 Major League Baseball Division Series

New York Yankees $ 201,449,189 ... 103-59 ALE
Minnesota Twins $ 65,299,266 ... 87-76 ALC

New York Yankees win series 3-0.

Boston Red Sox $ 121,745,999 ... 95-67 ALWC
Los Angeles Angels $ 113,709,000 ... 97-65 ALW

Los Angeles Angels win series 3-0.

Philadelphia Phillies $ 113,004,046 ... 93-69 NLE
Colorado Rockies $ 75,201,000 ... 92-70 NLWC

Philadelphia Phillies win series 3-1.

Los Angeles Dodgers $ 100,414,592 ... 95-67 NLW
St. Louis Cardinals $ 77,605,109 ... 91-71 NLC

Los Angeles Dodgers win series 3-0.

In each of the series, but one, the higher payroll dominated. The facade central division teams all lost.

The only payroll upset was the Angels over the Red Sox, but one should note that those teams were the closest in payroll (only about $8 million difference), and the Angels had home field advantage as a division winner.

Major League Baseball League Championship Series

New York Yankees $ 201,449,189 ... 103-59 ALE
Los Angeles Angels $ 113,709,000 ... 97-65 ALW

New York Yankees win series 4-2.

Philadelphia Phillies $ 113,004,046 ... 93-69 NLE
Los Angeles Dodgers $ 100,414,592 ... 95-67 NLW

Philadelphia Phillies win series 4-1.

Once again, the higher salaries win. I guess the Dodgers should have offered more chump players to Minnesota for Santana when he was available. An extra $20 million on the payroll would have trumped the Phillies.

MLB The World Series

New York Yankees $ 201,449,189 ... 103-59 ALE
Philadelphia Phillies $ 113,004,046 ... 93-69 NLE

With an extra 88.4 million in payroll, what are the expectations here?

So far, it's Yankees up 3-1. I hope the Phillies can overcome, but the league has allowed the Yankees to stack the deck with face cards.

[jackal]

the MLB is a joke half of the teams spend a third of some other teams.

The NBA with its game fixing Refs and keeping the TV teams in the playoffs
is just as bad or worse.

[Minniman]

Major League Baseball League Championship Series

New York Yankees $ 201,449,189 ... 103-59 ALE
Los Angeles Angels $ 113,709,000 ... 97-65 ALW

New York Yankees win series 4-2.

MLB The World Series

New York Yankees $ 201,449,189 ... 103-59 ALE
Philadelphia Phillies $ 113,004,046 ... 93-69 NLE

With an extra 88.4 million in payroll, what are the expectations here?

New York wins the series 4-2. The same result the Yankees had with the other $113 million team they faced.

the MLB is a joke half of the teams spend a third of some other teams.

Some teams spend as little as 1/5 of what New York spends. What is funny is that even the $100 million teams are getting soaked by the Yankees. The under $100 million teams don't stand a chance.

Now the guys on KFAN are stating that Mauer would be stupid to accept less money to stay in Minnesota rather than going to a team like the Yankees. Even the local media can't just call the pot black and say this is basically cheating.

Major League Baseball needs real revenue sharing, a cap, and a floor.

The NBA with its game fixing Refs and keeping the TV teams in the playoffs is just as bad or worse.

The NBA refs have been long thought to be fixing games. Look at the fouls called in the Wolves-Spurs Western Championship Series a half decade ago. Whenever the Wolves got hot - questionable calls were made, and the Spurs big guys got away with just about anything they wanted under the boards.

Look at how Shaq could bounce people under the boards, but he couldn't be bounced himself without a foul called, and how many times do the superstars get to travel with the ball? It was pretty obvious that the refs didn't hold players to the same standards.

One should also note that the Smith deal that cost the Wolves three first round draft picks was done with other teams. It was common knowledge that Rick Fox has a similar wink and a nod deal with the Lakers, and the league did nothing. The national broadcaster even mentioned it, and this was a few season before the Smith deal went down. There was no way Stern would have taken three first round picks from the Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, or Bulls.

[PurpleMustReign]

Some teams spend as little as 1/5 of what New York spends. What is funny is that even the $100 million teams are getting soaked by the Yankees. The under $100 million teams don't stand a chance.

Now the guys on KFAN are stating that Mauer would be stupid to accept less money to stay in Minnesota rather than going to a team like the Yankees. Even the local media can't just call the pot black and say this is basically cheating.

Mauer will stay in MN. He'll sign an extension this offseason.

I also believe that if Nathan hadn't blown that game in NY that the series would have been a different story. I'm not saying the Twins would have won, but I guarantee the Twins would have won one at least one game in the Dome.

[black]

I hate the Yankers. Whoopie for A-Rod. They have the best steriods money can buy.