The Cost of Winning

The Tampa Bay Rays successfully threw-out the argument for a minimum payroll last year —winning a pennant with an opening-day payroll of $44 million (compared with the Yankees’ $209 million)— but the residual cost of winning the pennant is clear (since a title is only that much further). The Rays’ opening-day payroll this year has risen to $63m, an increase of 43 percent.

Similarly, the Yankees have exhibited the cost of losing, since spending more than $200 million should buy you a division title (at the very least, a wild-card berth).

Opening-day payroll in the Bronx has decreased by 4 percent, but they are still the only team in the league with a payroll over $200 million (the second-highest spending team is the Mets at $149 million).

Other teams of note…

• the Phillies cut payroll by 15 percent;
• the Red Sox cut payroll by 9.5 percent; and
• the Cubs increased payroll by 14 percent.