Payroll
problems plague playoffs
Mario Burciaga
It is October again and time for a new baseball champion to be crowned. One thing
that did not surprise anyone is the reoccurrence of the same teams with a one-way
ticket to the Championships.
Perhaps the biggest and most prominent statistic that illustrates major league
baseball’s poor economic structure is team payrolls. There is a strong
correlation between high payrolls and success on the field, therefore, it can
be said that the more money a club spends, the more games they will win.
This season’s playoff contenders all had more than 80 wins each. In the
American League, the New York Yankees won 95 games and spent $208.3 million in
team payroll; Boston Red Sox won 95 games and spent $123.5 million, the Los Angeles
Angels of Anaheim won 95 games and spent $97.7 million and Chicago White Sox
won 99 games and spent $75.1 million. In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals
won 100 games and spent $92.1 million, the Atlanta Braves won 90 games and spent
$86.4 million, the Houston Astros won 89 games and spent $76.7 million and the
lowly San Diego Padres won 82 games and spent $63.2 million, setting a record
for least number of wins by a division-winning team.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are Major League Baseball’s financially
handicapped teams which all ended the season with a winning percentage of .500
or lower. The Colorado Rockies won 67 games and spent $48.1 million, the Pittsburgh
Pirates won 67 games and spent $38.1 million, the Kansas City Royals won 56 games
and spent $36.8 million and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, like most poor teams ended
the season with opposite records of those teams that made the playoffs. The Devil
Rays won 67 games and spent $29.6 million.
It is exemplified that the top three teams are the exact opposite of the bottom
three teams, financially and record-wise. It should be noted most teams that
did well during the season, paid about $1 million per win. If wins were to be
translated in such manner, America’s favorite pastime would be threatened
by high revenue market teams like the New York Yankees.
The three most successful teams in baseball are also the wealthiest: the Yankees
have 26 championships, the Los Angeles Dodgers 6 and the Red Sox 6. The two poorest
teams, the Padres and the Devil Rays have never won the World Series.
There is a solution to the problem, and it is very simple. The NFL and NBA have
one. It’s called a salary cap. A salary cap limits a team to spend a certain
amount of money per season; if a team spends more than it should then it is fined.
The solution is simple but it seems like the MLB commissioner does not want it
fixed. After all, Commissioner Bud Selig owns the poorest team, the Milwaukee
Brewers. It is not a surprise wealthy teams are successful, and it’s also
not a surprise that over time, the same teams will continue to make the playoffs
and win the World Series.
Whether there are regulations or not, or free agency or arbitration, revenue
among teams translates into differences in winning percentage. The same can be
said for this season’s success among baseball teams regarding payroll.
Without being shocked, it’s safe to say the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Cardinals,
Braves, Astros, White Sox and Padres were all predetermined to be in the 2005
playoffs.
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