Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox

[JonEJet]

. Which is why A-Rod and Tex are Yankees. The Sox have a ceiling, the Yanks do not.

For all these years you were thankful the Yanks had ARod

Now he's the reason why we won?

Uhhhhh:rl:

[Klecko73isGod]

Varitek, Beckett, and Bay play for the Sox because they traded for them. Ortiz was a nobody when the Sox took a flier on him, they got lucky when he started using eye drops.

Manny and Dice-K cost an exorbitant amount of money, this is true. Without Manny, the Sox don't win either WS. It was a move that needed to be made in order to compete with the Yanks.

I have no problem with it. The Yankees use their considerable resources to gain an advantage. It's all within the rules of the game. The Sox do the same. They just don't have the same resources as the Yanks. Which is why A-Rod and Tex are Yankees. The Sox have a ceiling, the Yanks do not.

To be fair, ARod is a Yankee because the Sox got greedy in the way they structured their proposed trade with Texas and Tex is a Yankee because his wife thinks John Henry is creepy.

[ZachEY]

Varying degrees of victimhood; some self-imposed (the Mets,) some due to circumstance (Royals,) some out of apathy (Brewers.)

The Mets have made plenty of mistakes, most notably, the fact that they added some big names, and then ignored the rest of the roster, allowing for some huge holes in the line-up.

That said, if a team like Minnesota, who've got some good players, decided they would match the Yankees spending for 2 or 3 years, they would be perenial contenders as well.

The point being, IMO, baseball is probably about 80% money. Maybe more.

By the way, the fact that the Venga Boys are playing over the Yankees ceremony is making Tom Brady look like Clark Gable.

[ZachEY]

To be fair, ARod is a Yankee because the Sox got greedy in the way they structured their proposed trade with Texas and Tex is a Yankee because his wife thinks John Henry is creepy.

And there-in lies the problem. There are 28 other teams in the league, many of which could benefit from a player like either of those guys. But the conversation almost never about any of those 28 teams.

[Garb]

To be fair, ARod is a Yankee because the Sox got greedy in the way they structured their proposed trade with Texas and Tex is a Yankee because his wife thinks John Henry is creepy.

John Henry is creepy. Gross creepy. Some ladies can see beyond the creepy and straight to the wallett, however:

Only way to explain Henry's new wife who is nearly 30 years his junior.

[Klecko73isGod]

The Mets have made plenty of mistakes, most notably, the fact that they added some big names, and then ignored the rest of the roster, allowing for some huge holes in the line-up.

That said, if a team like Minnesota, who've got some good players, decided they would match the Yankees spending for 2 or 3 years, they would be perenial contenders as well.

The point being, IMO, baseball is probably about 80% money. Maybe more.

By the way, the fact that the Venga Boys are playing over the Yankees ceremony is making Tom Brady look like Clark Gable.

The Twins are gonna get a hometown discount from Mauer. That may prompt them to spend a little more on the rest of the team.

Plus, once they move into their new ballpark that they own next year, they will be generating significantly more revenue than they have been in the Metrodome.

[Klecko73isGod]

John Henry is creepy. Gross creepy. Some ladies can see beyond the creepy and straight to the wallett, however:

Only way to explain Henry's new wife who is nearly 30 years his junior.

LMAO. That's ****ed up.

[Klecko73isGod]

The Mets have made plenty of mistakes, most notably, the fact that they added some big names, and then ignored the rest of the roster, allowing for some huge holes in the line-up.

That said, if a team like Minnesota, who've got some good players, decided they would match the Yankees spending for 2 or 3 years, they would be perenial contenders as well.

The point being, IMO, baseball is probably about 80% money. Maybe more.

By the way, the fact that the Venga Boys are playing over the Yankees ceremony is making Tom Brady look like Clark Gable.

Clark Gable was a fruit.

[Klecko73isGod]

And there-in lies the problem. There are 28 other teams in the league, many of which could benefit from a player like either of those guys. But the conversation almost never about any of those 28 teams.

Not really.

In the last eight years, more baseball teams have played in the World Series than football teams played in the SuperBowl.

The sport with no cap has produced more different champions than the sport with the strictest cap in the last decade.

Explain that.

Ironically, the one time the Angels won the World Series they had one of the 10 smallest payrolls, since they started shelling out the dough and have been among the top five teams in payroll they haven't advanced to the ALCS.

If, like you claimed in another post that money is 80% of the equation, wouldn't the Yankees win almost 80% of the time?

Money helps you compete, it does in any sport. No one is denying that. But in no way does it guarantee you anything.

Now I know this is not your thing but it's offensive that Red Sox fans, of all people, are the first to scream about the Yankees spending money. The most ironic part of that is that the Red Sox unmitigated greed is the only reason they didn't get ARod.

[Bugg]

Break out yer hankerchiefs-

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/11/05/the-yankees-payroll/?e2feb5c0

[Bugg]

Not really.

In the last eight years, more baseball teams have played in the World Series than football teams played in the SuperBowl.

The sport with no cap has produced more different champions than the sport with the strictest cap in the last decade.

Explain that.

Ironically, the one time the Angels won the World Series they had one of the 10 smallest payrolls, since they started shelling out the dough and have been among the top five teams in payroll they haven't advanced to the ALCS.

If, like you claimed in another post that money is 80% of the equation, wouldn't the Yankees win almost 80% of the time?

Money helps you compete, it does in any sport. No one is denying that. But in no way does it guarantee you anything.

Now I know this is not your thing but it's offensive that Red Sox fans, of all people, are the first to scream about the Yankees spending money. The most ironic part of that is that the Red Sox unmitigated greed is the only reason they didn't get ARod.

Note that NCAA basketball, football, the NBA and the NFL are statistically much more top-heavy than MLB if we're talking about championshsips. Though in the NBA's case if Tim Dongahy is to be believed, it's a total fix job anyway.

[shawn306]

John Henry is creepy. Gross creepy. Some ladies can see beyond the creepy and straight to the wallett, however:

Only way to explain Henry's new wife who is nearly 30 years his junior.

Looks like Garth from Wayne's World 20 years later

[ZachEY]

The Twins are gonna get a hometown discount from Mauer. That may prompt them to spend a little more on the rest of the team.

Plus, once they move into their new ballpark that they own next year, they will be generating significantly more revenue than they have been in the Metrodome.

Yup. So, when Minnesota, a team who's done well with little, is able to spend more money, they'll be serious contenders. Isn't that my point?

[Klecko73isGod]

Yup. So, when Minnesota, a team who's done well with little, is able to spend more money, they'll be serious contenders. Isn't that my point?

They're serious contenders now.

Eric, major league baseball generated close to $70 billion in revenue last year. That wasn't all the Yankees. A lot of the teams crying poverty are full of crap. Most CHOOSE not to spend money on talent.

The Yankees do generate the most revenue, but they do not generate most of the revenue.

The most interesting statistic to me is that the Yankees spend the highest percentage of their team revenue on talent. That really shouldn't be the case. The team with the highest revenue shouldn't be spending a higher percentage of their revenue on talent than a team that generates 90% of the amount of revenue the Yankees generate (Red Sox I am looking in your direction.)

As a fan, I am thrilled that the ownership group cares that much about winning.

The Yankees aren't the problem, the lying owners who line their pockets with the luxury tax money the Yankees pay that by rule they are supposed to be spending on talent are the problem (Bud Selig I am looking in your direction.)

[Lil Bit Special]

Yankee fans... real simple.

You won the championship. No matter what anyone else says or does you're the champs. Doesnt matter if your payroll is out of this world. You're the champs. You dont need to justify or show stats on why the highest payroll doesnt mean squat. You are the champs.

Now here's the really difficult part for you--- act like champs. stop acting like spoiled little babies. Stop attacking other teams and their fans. You're the champs. You're better than them. Act like champs.

[ZachEY]

Not really.

In the last eight years, more baseball teams have played in the World Series than football teams played in the SuperBowl.

The sport with no cap has produced more different champions than the sport with the strictest cap in the last decade.

Explain that.

Football and baseball are nothing alike. Comparing them is fruitless.

The winner of the argument your suggesting is who can manipulate reality better to make their point, when in reality, one has a 16 game season, the other has a 162 game season, one requires significantly more team performance, the other is all about individual matchups.

And I've already said, Money doesn't buy you a championship, but it's ignorant to say that it doesn't make a large down payment.

Ironically, the one time the Angels won the World Series they had one of the 10 smallest payrolls, since they started shelling out the dough and have been among the top five teams in payroll they haven't advanced to the ALCS.

If, like you claimed in another post that money is 80% of the equation, wouldn't the Yankees win almost 80% of the time?

Yes, but spending that money has kept them in the conversation.

No, the Yankees wouldn't win 80% of the time, because as I said, a lot can happen in a short series, and you play other teams who are heavily invested, who are also capable of winning. But money has the Yankees in championship contention better than 80% of the time, and that's something you just about can guarentee yourself.

Money helps you compete, it does in any sport. No one is denying that. But in no way does it guarantee you anything.

Now I know this is not your thing but it's offensive that Red Sox fans, of all people, are the first to scream about the Yankees spending money. The most ironic part of that is that the Red Sox unmitigated greed is the only reason they didn't get ARod.

As I said above, no one said you can guarentee it. But, they can keep themselves in the conversation perennially. As far as national attention, and opinion goes, the Yankees not making the playoffs was a bigger deal than them winning the world series. Because, while they can't guarentee themselves a championship, it is legitimately more of a surprise that a team with that payroll didn't make the post season as opposed to a team with that payroll winning a championship.

I get what you're saying as far as Sox fans. But, I can't completely agree. Here's why...

In terms of 2009 Payroll, the Yankees spent 80M more than the Sox.

To put that some other ways:

Yankees = Red Sox + Toronto Blue Jays

Yankees = Red Sox + Cleveland Indians

Yankees = Red Sox + Minnesota Twins + Florida Marlins

[ZachEY]

They're serious contenders now.

Eric, major league baseball generated close to $70 billion in revenue last year. That wasn't all the Yankees. A lot of the teams crying poverty are full of crap. Most CHOOSE not to spend money on talent.

So what? What they choose to do is irrelevant to the conversation of what wins baseball games. All that matters is what happens.

The Yankees do generate the most revenue, but they do not generate most of the revenue.

The most interesting statistic to me is that the Yankees spend the highest percentage of their team revenue on talent. That really shouldn't be the case. The team with the highest revenue shouldn't be spending a higher percentage of their revenue on talent than a team that generates 90% of the amount of revenue the Yankees generate (Red Sox I am looking in your direction.)

The fact of the matter is, even with their payroll, the Yankees still make more money than any other team.

According to Forbes, the Yankees are worth 1.3 Billion dollars. The Mets and Sox are next worth roughly 400 Million less. The next team is the Dodgers, who are worth slightly better than half of what the Yankees are. The top team not in a major media market is the Atlanta Braves. They're worth under 500 million.

Don't act like all teams are on a level playing field, and don't act like it's close.

As a fan, I am thrilled that the ownership group cares that much about winning.

And you have every right to be. That doesn't make my point wrong, nor does it even have an impact on my point.

The Yankees aren't the problem, the lying owners who line their pockets with the luxury tax money the Yankees pay that by rule they are supposed to be spending on talent are the problem (Bud Selig I am looking in your direction.)

The yankees aren't a problem, because there is no problem with what they're doing. It's within the rules. That said, it again has no bearing on my point that you can spend your way into contention.

[Klecko73isGod]

Football and baseball are nothing alike. Comparing them is fruitless.

The winner of the argument your suggesting is who can manipulate reality better to make their point, when in reality, one has a 16 game season, the other has a 162 game season, one requires significantly more team performance, the other is all about individual matchups.

And I've already said, Money doesn't buy you a championship, but it's ignorant to say that it doesn't make a large down payment.

Yes, but spending that money has kept them in the conversation.

No, the Yankees wouldn't win 80% of the time, because as I said, a lot can happen in a short series, and you play other teams who are heavily invested, who are also capable of winning. But money has the Yankees in championship contention better than 80% of the time, and that's something you just about can guarentee yourself.

As I said above, no one said you can guarentee it. But, they can keep themselves in the conversation perennially. As far as national attention, and opinion goes, the Yankees not making the playoffs was a bigger deal than them winning the world series. Because, while they can't guarentee themselves a championship, it is legitimately more of a surprise that a team with that payroll didn't make the post season as opposed to a team with that payroll winning a championship.

I get what you're saying as far as Sox fans. But, I can't completely agree. Here's why...

In terms of 2009 Payroll, the Yankees spent 80M more than the Sox.

To put that some other ways:

Yankees = Red Sox + Toronto Blue Jays

Yankees = Red Sox + Cleveland Indians

Yankees = Red Sox + Minnesota Twins + Florida Marlins

THAT IS THE MAIN POINT HERE.

The Red Sox payroll would be higher than the Yankees had they gotten their way and were able to sign both ARod and Tex.

Red Sox fans are the ones on this site acting holier than thou about the Yankees spending money when if things had gone the way they would have preferred, their team's payroll would not just rival the Yankees, it would be bigger than the Yankees.

[ZachEY]

THAT IS THE MAIN POINT HERE.

The Red Sox payroll would be higher than the Yankees had they gotten their way and were able to sign both ARod and Tex.

Red Sox fans are the ones on this site acting holier than thou about the Yankees spending money when if things had gone the way they would have preferred, their team's payroll would not just rival the Yankees, it would be bigger than the Yankees.

Would it?

Would the Yankees not have allocated those funds into other players? You're right, that Red Sox fans are not in the best position to pass judgement, but with that said, the reason I'm involved in this discussion is to refute the notion that Baseball isn't a game of dollars.

[Lil Bit Special]

THAT IS THE MAIN POINT HERE.

The Red Sox payroll would be higher than the Yankees had they gotten their way and were able to sign both ARod and Tex.

Red Sox fans are the ones on this site acting holier than thou about the Yankees spending money when if things had gone the way they would have preferred, their team's payroll would not just rival the Yankees, it would be bigger than the Yankees.

Red Sox would never had ARod, Tex and Dice K at the same time.

Arod to the Sox didnt happen because the players union refused to allow Arod's contract to be reduced. Sox didnt want him at his Texas contract.

[Bugg]

They're serious contenders now.

Eric, major league baseball generated close to $70 billion in revenue last year. That wasn't all the Yankees. A lot of the teams crying poverty are full of crap. Most CHOOSE not to spend money on talent.

The Yankees do generate the most revenue, but they do not generate most of the revenue.

The most interesting statistic to me is that the Yankees spend the highest percentage of their team revenue on talent. That really shouldn't be the case. The team with the highest revenue shouldn't be spending a higher percentage of their revenue on talent than a team that generates 90% of the amount of revenue the Yankees generate (Red Sox I am looking in your direction.)

As a fan, I am thrilled that the ownership group cares that much about winning.

The Yankees aren't the problem, the lying owners who line their pockets with the luxury tax money the Yankees pay that by rule they are supposed to be spending on talent are the problem (Bud Selig I am looking in your direction.)

Actually the Yanks probably do generate the most income, but we don't know how much because YES is cleaved off for accounting purposes. That's perfectly legal and within the rules. The Yanks weren't the fisrt team to make their own in house cable network, the Braves(TBS) and Cubs(WGN) did it first. But it's undoubtedly the most successful. Heck the Sawx and Mets copied the idea, and until recently NESN and YES even shared some broadcast facilities and equipment.

[Arsis]

1. 
   184: jackie ballgame said at 9:19 am on November 6th, 2009: Seems to me this is a political conversation, which is why it’s so uncomfortable. Proposed solutions, and any others you might come up with, have a socialist character. The very phrase “level the playing field” is a socialist sentiment. To that end, we already have policies aimed at leveling the playing field in education (ask Jonathan Kozol if they succeed, though). We have attempted revenue sharing with old people (social security) and are attempting to now level the playing field in health care. All of these policies generate enormous debate between the obvious opponents; social welfare programs go against the grain of pure capitalism. The argument from one side of the aisle–the side I happen to find myself on, should whoever is reading this comment give a rat’s ass where I stand–is that pure Capitalism taints baseball in much the same way it taints education. That, friends, is one touchy subject.

Saw this on that site. Was a great post. All you socialists need to button up.

[Sharrow]

This payroll excuse is getting annoying. Get over it, there's always hope for your team next year.

lolz. Iwamura puts the Pirates over the top for sure.

[CrazyCarl40]

lolz. Iwamura puts the Pirates over the top for sure.

Dark Lady Jet doesn't get the fact that for 15 or so teams, right now there is still no hope for them. They aren't mathematically eliminated yet, but they still have no chance.

[PFSIKH]

Actually the Yanks probably do generate the most income, but we don't know how much because YES is cleaved off for accounting purposes. That's perfectly legal and within the rules. The Yanks weren't the fisrt team to make their own in house cable network, the Braves(TBS) and Cubs(WGN) did it first. But it's undoubtedly the most successful. Heck the Sawx and Mets copied the idea, and until recently NESN and YES even shared some broadcast facilities and equipment.

Great point. One of the conditions for Henry purchasing the Sox was to have NESN (controlling interest) included in the deal because that is where the haves and have nots differ.

THAT IS THE MAIN POINT HERE.

The Red Sox payroll would be higher than the Yankees had they gotten their way and were able to sign both ARod and Tex.

Red Sox fans are the ones on this site acting holier than thou about the Yankees spending money when if things had gone the way they would have preferred, their team's payroll would not just rival the Yankees, it would be bigger than the Yankees.

No effing way.

As LBS correctly pointed out, if the Sox had landed A-Roid prior to 2004, they owuld not have been in the market for Dice-K or Teixera unless A-Roid was a free agent.

There is no doubt the Yankees generate the most income. RSN is not the fan base with the holier then thou attitude. It is and has always been Skank Nation. They act like Georgie or one of his inbred sons write the checks from their own personal accounts.

[Vudu]

lolz. Iwamura puts the Pirates over the top for sure.

LOLZ totally.

The funny thing is everyone is bitching about the Yankees spending when they shop for players in the bargain basement thinking it will somehow work out.

You gotta spend $$ for results, unless you're the flukey ass Rays.

[Sharrow]

Yeah, how about them Rays. Pretty good for a small market team that knows how to compete, huh? Lol. It took them 10 years to make it into the playoffs, and they took advantage of the opportunity. Now they won't make the playoffs for another 10 years.

[talisaynon]

You guys act as if David Price and Wade are nothing to scoff at; not to mention Desmond Jennings and Beckham.

Rays will be in competition for years to come.

[Sharrow]

You guys act as if David Price and Wade are nothing to scoff at; not to mention Desmond Jennings and Beckham.

Rays will be in competition for years to come.

You'll see. They don't have a shot unless the Sox or Yanks slip. And who is going to improve more over the offseason?

[neckdemon]

this guy sums it all up perfectly.....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/11/05/yankees.payroll/index.html

The following is a screed about the Yankees' payroll. If you are a Yankees fan uninterested in a screed about the payroll, don't read it. You won't enjoy it. Go out, buy a championship T-shirt, reminisce about this great team, enjoy the victory. I'm telling you: Don't read it.

As for the rest of you: The following is, I think, something that is always bubbling below the surface of baseball (when you are not a Yankees fan). I rarely write about it because ... it's like writing about the heat in Phoenix. We all know it's there, and we don't really want to talk about it anymore. But with the Yankees winning the World Series and then talking about how it showed the team's character, well, yeah, I thought maybe this once ...

Here's the thing about the New York Yankees' huge payroll: It has been talked about so much that, in reality, it is hardly talked about at all. I know this makes little sense, but what I mean is this:

A. Everyone knows the Yankees spend much more money than any other team to win games.

B. Because everyone knows it, people have been complaining about it for many years.

C. Because people have complained about it for many years, everybody is sick of hearing about it.

D. Because everyone is sick of hearing about it, nobody really listens.

E. Because nobody really listens, people don't talk about the Yankees spending much more money than any other team to win games.

Yes, this is a weird circle. But in this bizarre world of spin where Alex Rodriguez tries to project himself as an underdog* and Yankees types try to recast George Steinbrenner as sympathetic figure, I think this Yankees money fatigue is very real. As soon as you start talking about it, people turn off. What we're talking about this again? Or, as indignant Yankees fans, they get angry: "Oh man, you're not going to talk about the Yankees MONEY thing again, are you?"

*One good thing about this postseason is that it does seem to have killed the A-Rod as choker myth once and for all. Good man Alex Belth sends along these numbers:

A-Rod during regular season: .305/.390/.576

A-Rod during playoffs: .302/.409/.568

Same thing. Same player. Same guy.

Now, let's think about this for a moment: You have a sport where the New York Yankees -- in large part because they are located in America's largest city and they have baseball's richest television contract -- can viably spend tens of millions of dollars more than any other team to acquire baseball players. You have one team (and only one team) playing the video game on cheat-mode.

This is much starker than people think, by the way. I quickly went back and looked at the numbers before writing my column for SI.com on Wednesday night, and I'm going to reprint them here because even as someone who has also grown sick of hearing about the Yankees' payroll, I found them to be stunning:

In 2002, the Yankees spent $17 million more in payroll than any other team.

In 2003, the Yankees spent $35 million more in payroll than any other team.

In 2004, the Yankees spent $57 million more in payroll than any other team. I mean, it's ridiculous from the start but this is pure absurdity. Basically, this is like the Yankees saying: "OK, let's spend exactly as much as the second-highest payroll in baseball. OK, we're spending exactly as much. And now ... let's add the Oakland A's. No, I mean let's add their whole team, the whole payroll, add it on top and let's play some ball!"

In 2005, the Yankees spent $85 million more than any other team. Not a misprint. Eight five.

In 2006, the Yankees spent $74 million more than any other team.

In 2007, the Yankees spent $40 million more than any other team -- cutbacks, you know.

In 2008, the Yankees spent $72 million more than any other team.

In 2009, the Yankees spent $52 million more than any other team.

Now, the conceit of American professional sports is that every team has a chance. That is certainly the conceit of baseball -- what the commissioner calls Hope on Opening Day.*

*He took this "Hope on Opening Day" thing from me, by the way. Bud Selig read it in a column I had written about the Kansas City Royals, called me about it, and began to trumpet it around. My contribution to baseball. I'm not proud of it.

So how can the commissioner of baseball promote such nonsense as Hope on Opening Day when the game is set up for one team to spend tens of millions more than anyone else? Well, it's actually an interesting thing, I think. I see it as a two-pronged play.

One: Baseball happens to be a sport where dominance can be obscured. It doesn't look like dominance. What I mean is this: Baseball, for many reasons, is built in such a way that the best teams win less often than in other sports. A 13-win NFL team wins 81% of the time. A national championship contending football team might lose once or twice -- or not at all. A 60-win NBA team wins 75% of the time, and a big time college basketball team will win closer to 90%.

A 100-win baseball team wins 62% of the time... and there was only one 100-win baseball team this year. The New York Yankees. Every baseball team that won even 56% of the time this year made the playoffs. It is a sport of small triumphs, good months, one-run victories. I believe it was Whitey Herzog who said that the key to baseball is not getting swept... the idea being that if you can play well most of the time and steal at least one in a three-game series when you're not playing well, then you will be in good shape at the end of the year.

So, dominant baseball teams don't LOOK dominant in the same way they do in football or basketball. It's like the billionaire CEO who doesn't wear ties and rides coach on planes. He's still a billionaire but he doesn't LOOK like a billionaire. No team goes winless or undefeated in baseball. Few ever go winless or undefeated even over 16-game stretches. No team in baseball loses fewer than 40 games, and no team wins more than 120, and it's only the rarest of teams that get anywhere close to either of those numbers.

I think of it this way: I would bet that if the Indianapolis Colts played the Cleveland Browns 100 times, and the Colts were motivated, they would probably win 95 of them -- maybe even more than that. But if the New York Yankees played the Kansas City Royals 100 times, and the Yankees were motivated, I suspect the Royals would still win 25 or 30 times. That's baseball.

So you have this sport that tends to equalize teams. That helps blur the dominance of the Yankees. If the New England Patriots were allowed to spend $50 million more on players than any other team, they would go 15-1 or 16-0 every single year. And people would not stand for it. But in baseball, a great and dominant team might only win 95 out of 160, and it doesn't seem so bad.

The second thing is that, at the end of the year, the best teams are thrown together in a succession of short series that are fun to watch but are not designed to pick the best teams. Quite the opposite: A short series in baseball is designed to shelter weaknesses and expose strengths. Yuni Betancourt can out-hit A-Rod in a five-game series. Livan Hernandez can out-pitch Tim Lincecum in a one-game match-up. Baseball doesn't hide this -- they slam it down your throat. October baseball! Anything's possible! And so on.

And in that way the expanded playoffs have been genius for baseball -- not only because they are milking television for every dime, but because the short series have been baseball's one defense against the ludicrous unfairness of the New York Yankees. Hey, if the game is rigged, rig the game. The Yankees spend a lot more money than any other team. As a direct result, they had the best record in the American League in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. They made the playoffs every single year but one this decade (and going back to 1995). They are the best team with the best players every year -- that sort of big money virtually guarantees it.

So, you create a system in which the best team doesn't always win. In fact, you create a system in which the best team often doesn't win. For years the Yankees didn't win. They lost to Florida. They lost to Anaheim. They blew a 3-0 series lead against Boston. They lost to Anaheim again and Detroit and Cleveland -- and how could you say that baseball is unfair? Look, the Yankees can't win the World Series! See? Sure they spend $50 million more than any other team and $100 million more than most. But they haven't won the World Series! Doesn't that make you feel better?

And this has been the Wizard of Oz slight-of-hand game that MLB has been playing for a long time... Ignore the man behind the curtain who makes more money off of baseball than anyone else and can buy just about any player he wants. Ignore the absurdity of it all. Just remember: The Yankees haven't won in a while! Just remember: Anything is possible.

There's something else that people say: They talk about how money doesn't guarantee wins. And they point out that other teams (the Mets, the Cubs, the Astros, etc.) spend a lot of money and don't win. I think this actually makes for an interesting argument if you want to talk about the inequities of baseball... big markets, small markets, all that.

But the Yankees are a whole different argument. They are their own argument. The Yankees are not a big-market team. They DWARF big-market teams. They are quantitatively different from every other team in baseball and every other team in American sports. They don't just spend more money than every other team. They spend A LOT more money than every other team. The Boston Red Sox spend $50 million more than the Kansas City Royals? Who cares? The Yankees spend $80 million more than the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees have a pat hand.

This is the way baseball is structured, and we have reached a point where people simply don't want to hear any griping about it. Don't like it? Don't watch. Some people have stopped watching, I suppose. But many of us keep on because we love baseball and there's enough randomness in the game itself and enough volatility in the playoffs to distract us from the lunacy of having the game so ridiculously tilted toward one team.

The trouble is that, inevitably, that one team will make good choices. They will put together a team of All-Stars. They will sign a dominant left-handed starter and a slugging switch-hitting Gold Glove first baseman and a right-handed starter who throws curveballs that bend like wiffle balls. That team will be a remarkable collection of stars, and they will play often beautiful baseball, and they will win more games than any other team during the season. That team will roll through the playoffs without facing an elimination game or anything resembling real drama -- though there will be constant efforts to make it SEEM like there's drama.

And then: That team that spent $50 million more than any other team, that team with three sure Hall of Famers and as many as four others, that team that bought Milwaukee's best pitcher and Anaheim's best hitter and Toronto's No. 2 starter and Boston's favorite Idiot and the most expensive player in the history of baseball and so on, that team will win the World Series, and spray champagne on each other, and they will tell you that they won because they came together as a group and kept pulling themselves off the ground and didn't listen to the doubters.

And then, if you are a not a Yankees fan, you will want to throw up. If you are not a Yankees fan, you are left hoping that next year the randomness of a short playoff series will get the Yankees and allow some other team to win so we can celebrate the hope of Opening Day. And that's baseball.

[war ensemble]

Know how to not write an unbiased article? Start out condescending. That'll make your point look oh so much better!

[neckdemon]

Know how to not write an unbiased article? Start out condescending. That'll make your point look oh so much better!

you should've read the disclaimer at the beginning......that would have saved you from reading the article.

[PFSIKH]

Know how to not write an unbiased article? Start out condescending. That'll make your point look oh so much better!

You are missing the larger point at hand.

While the Yankees are clearly the poster child for the problems in baseball, they are not the only benefactors of the haves and have-nots.

Every team in the Top 25% of team payroll has benefitted from a team in the bottom 3/4ths doing a payroll dump.

Phillies took Lee.

Angels got Kazmir.

The Pirates have fed quality players to the Yankees and Sox. Ditto the Marlins.

Unfortunately, there is no compelling way for baseball to fix itself. They are not the NFL. No TV contract to equally divide.

What they probably need is a combination of the NHL and NBA. An upper and lower limit. A lower limit so teams are compelled to spend to it. A high limit that is high enough the Yankees actually have to think about salaries (~160-175). And a structure in place so if a team develops there homegrown (i.e. drafted talent), they can offer them more then anyone else.

[Blackout]

You can predict the NBA playoffs before the season starts

not really - who saw the heavily over-rated Magic winning the east last year? (granted it's only because of KEvin Garnett getting hurt)

[neckdemon]

...