For 20 years, Pittsburgh Pirates fans have been waiting to see a winning team. During that time, the Pirates have lost a lot of its fan base to bigger market teams who have been successful such as the Yankees and the Red Sox. Baseball has proven since 1994 that whoever has the deepest pockets will win. Not many people believe this, but if you look at the numbers, it’s true.
Baseball is the only league in professional sports without any type of salary cap system to limit team spending. In result, player salaries have been spiraling out of control and leaving only a few options for destinations. Albert Pujol’s contract is worth over $240 million dollars, Josh Hamilton will be making $32 million a season by 2015, are both prime examples.
Is it a surprise that both now play for the Los Angeles Angels?
No.
Did you see any of the small market teams take a real stab at either?
No.
People love to bring up the Tampa Bay Rays from 2008 that took down teams like the Boston Red Sox to make it to the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies or the Colorado Rockies in 2007 when they took on the Red Sox. One issue though; they didn’t win. They made it, but could not take home the ultimate prize. It is like anything else; every once in a while an underdog can make it, but more times than not, Goliath takes down David.
In 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies had an opening day payroll of more than $106 million dollars, while the Tampa Bay Rays payroll at opening day was just over $48 million. Yes they both made it to the same point of the season, but the team who spent more on talent, players whom the Rays couldn’t afford, came out on top.
Now this is not saying that to win teams have to spend out of control money to try and compete. Just look at the disasters over the years such as the New York Mets, and so far this season, the Toronto Blue Jays who sit at the bottom of the AL east at 12-21. The Blue Jays made blockbuster deals picking up millions of dollars in salary for guys like José Reyes, Josh Johnson and RA Dickey.
In sports, teams have to be smart with their money. There are a lot of factors that go into having a winning franchise, but in baseball, you can get away with it more than others.
This is a league where small market teams cannot survive. Pirates fans have seen it the last two years with monumental collapses because they were winning with the talent they had, but that talent could not last a full 162-game season. They were running into teams with deeper lineups and stronger pitching. They cannot afford the big ticket players to help them get into the postseason and that is why basically the same teams are in the playoffs every year because they can.
The Cincinnati Reds are a great example for a small market team in some aspects. They have a strong minor league system, which means they brought up their own talent and were able to sign most of them to contracts, like Joey Votto. They have also been able to bring in some talent in free agency, but like most teams, they cannot afford the big acquisition to put them over the top. They have been an exciting team to watch the last few years and have been to the postseason, but when they do make it they have not made it out of the first round, and will not unless they can spend more money.
Just last year alone, 10 of the bottom 15 teams in opening day payroll finished either right at or under .500. The 2012 World Series teams were the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants and both were in the top eight in payroll. The Tigers were fifth with over $132 million and the Giants were eighth with over $117 million.
Since 2004 only one team has won the World Series while spending less than $80 million and that was the 2005 Chicago White Sox. They spent just over $75 million dollars and were 13th in opening day payroll and just so happened to play the Houston Astros who were ranked 12th with just over $76 million.
Dating since 2000, seven World Series champions had payrolls ranked in the top ten in the league, four of those in the top two (Yankees and Red Sox). All of the World Series champions since then except for one (Florida Marlins in 2003, ranked 24), had opening day payrolls in the top half of the league.
Some people want to believe that baseball is fair and everyone has the chance to win. It is not the case. If a team has deeper pockets they will take home the best talent, if a small market team is lucky enough to have home grown talent by the time they become talented at the MLB level, they will most likely leave for more money. This leaves the small market teams to start over again while the big market teams can continue to add.
How often do big market teams have “rebuilding” stages? Almost never.
For example look at the Red Sox this season, they finished last in the division last year along while ditching a lot of big time players, but they aren’t rebuilding. They are competing because they have the ability to go out and sign other guys like a Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino and others. Usually small market teams have to completely start over by trading the talent they have for prospects or get stuck signing guys past their primes because they’re cheaper.
MLB commissioner Bud Selig wants fans to think that revenue sharing is the answer to making it more fair league wide. This pretty much means that big market teams like the Yankees have to share parts of their revenue with the rest of league. Which in the end is baseball saying, “Hey, you don’t make enough money, but these guys do.”
Revenue sharing is not the answer. A salary cap in baseball would be the best thing for the league, giving every team the same opportunity to spend the same amount of money and in the end making it more competitive.
The most prime example of how this can work is the NHL. The league had teams fighting to get into the playoffs going into the finals games, in baseball the playoff matchups are usually figured by mid September. The NHL is the best example of parody in sports, which is why you have seen multiple different teams in the playoffs and Stanley Cup finals for last few years. Even in the NFL anybody can beat anybody.
If things do not change in baseball, do not be surprised if some of these small market teams never win a World Series title for a long time. In today’s league, the rules do not allow every team to succeed now or in the future. Every team cannot can sign huge TV deals for millions of dollars or bid on the high priced talent. Baseball needs to change for the future and the fans of this great game.
