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Now that the 2011 Super Bowl teams are the Yankees/Red Sox equivalent of the MLB, can we finally say that the MLB is the most competitive professional league in the US? The World Series has become a traveling road show, going from Phoenix, Miami, Houston, to Detroit, Tampa Bay, Denver, etc., etc....
The following chart shows percentage of ML average payroll (Yankees spend 2.3 times more than the average for example), spending rank in the division (Yankees spent the most in the division) and the number of playoff appearances for each team between 2001 and 2010.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Binder
NYY 2.292 (1st in division, 9 playoff appearances)
BOS 1.615 (2nd in division, 6 playoff appearances)
NYM 1.466 (1st in division, 1 playoff appearance)
LAD 1.313 (1st in division, 4 playoff appearances)
CHC 1.261 (1st in division, 3 playoff appearances)
ATL 1.215 (2nd in division, 6 playoff appearances)
LAA 1.197 (1st in division, 6 playoff appearances)
TEX 1.174 (2nd in division, 1 playoff appearance)
STL 1.132 (2nd in division, 6 playoff appearances)
PHI 1.130 (3rd in division, 4 playoff appearances)
SF 1.083 (2nd in division, 3 playoff appearances)
CWS 1.077 (1st in division, 2 playoff appearances)
HOU 1.044 (3rd in division, 3 playoff appearances)
DET 1.029 (2nd in division, 1 playoff appearance)
SEA 0.977 (3rd in division, 1 playoff appearance)
ARI 0.946 (3rd in division, 3 playoff appearances)
BAL 0.930 (3rd in division, 0 playoff appearances)
TOR 0.899 (4th in division, 0 playoff appearances)
CLE 0.829 (3rd in division, 2 playoff appearances)
COL 0.801 (4th in division, 2 playoff appearances)
CIN 0.784 (4th in division, 1 playoff appearance)
MIN 0.741 (4th in division, 6 playoff appearances)
MIL 0.725 (5th in division, 1 playoff appearance)
OAK 0.700 (4th in division, 4 playoff appearances)
SD 0.684 (5th in division, 2 playoff appearances)
KC 0.666 (5th in division, 0 playoff appearances)
MTL/WSH 0.633 (4th in division, 0 playoff appearances)
PIT 0.581 (6th in division, 0 playoff appearances)
TB 0.531 (5th in division, 2 playoff appearances)
FLA 0.513 (5th in division, 1 playoff appearance)
Although there are exceptions, money matters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by filihok
49 teams that were 1st or 2nd in their division in payroll made the playoffs in the decade.
16 teams that were last or 2nd to last in their division in payroll made the playoffs in the decade.
1 team among the 19 lowest in percentage of average payroll made the playoffs (the 2008 Rays).
12 teams among the 19 highest in percentage of average payroll made the playoffs.
Obviously, making the playoffs has some effect on payroll. But, you'd have to be an ostrich with your head in the sand to not see that payroll has an effect on making the playoffs.
Now that the 2011 Super Bowl teams are the Yankees/Red Sox equivalent of the MLB, can we finally say that the MLB is the most competitive professional league in the US? The World Series has become a traveling road show, going from Phoenix, Miami, Houston, to Detroit, Tampa Bay, Denver, etc., etc....
Interesting assesment of the NFL...I am not sure I agree seing how this is the 10th team in 10 years from the NFC to represent the conference in the superbowl. GB is in the bottom 5 of total salary for 2010 also...Pitt is 6th highest. Do you mean they are the equivalent of the Yankees/Red Sox because of their rabid fan following?
Interesting assesment of the NFL...I am not sure I agree seing how this is the 10th team in 10 years from the NFC to represent the conference in the superbowl. GB is in the bottom 5 of total salary for 2010 also...Pitt is 6th highest. Do you mean they are the equivalent of the Yankees/Red Sox because of their rabid fan following?
Great fan bases but if he is basing it on team salaries, then he is dead wrong. A very bad and incorrect statement by the OP.
While it is true that higher payroll teams are more likely to be in the running, that's true in any sport.
Also despite large payroll gaps, I found that baseball has had a surprising variety of contenders. (Yankees aside of course).
Trouble is, it does really seem that clubs in smaller markets have little chance of ever maintaining the high payrolls that greatly help a team's chances of winning. It was during the early to mid '90's that I first recall hearing talk about small-market clubs being priced out of contention. Take a look at the list of World Series winners from '95-'10. Then look at a list of metropolitan areas in the U.S. Depending on whether metro areas are listed by CSA or MSA population, all but two world champions in the '95-'10 period are located in the top twelve (CSA) or top ten (MSA) largest metro areas in the U.S. The other two champions, the D'backs and Cards, are both located in metro areas in the second group of ten in population.
The clubs like the Royals, Reds, Brewers, etc., often viewed as having no chance of contending because of their small markets, clubs which have gone years without being close to contending, or clubs like the Brewers a few years ago which might put together a respectable team for a year or two, only to have to then fall back when richer clubs outbid them for their best players who become free agents, are all located in metro areas in the bottom ten in population among metros with major league clubs.
Look it up. Most contenders come from the ten or so largest metro areas. Some clubs who sometimes field pretty good teams that tend to make the playoffs but get knocked out early (think the Twins here) are from the second ten metros, while clubs in the smallest major league metros have become the perennial also-rans. That's been true for over fifteen years now, too long a time for me to believe it's just coincidence that clubs from the biggest cities win most of the championships, that there's no correlation between market size and ability to contend. Even if there has been a variety of contenders from the larger cities, there's still a problem when something like one third or more of MLB clubs have no hope of ever contending under the current system.
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