Stark appeared on Mike&Mike on ESPN Radio yesterday and offered some interesting insights about the competitive parity among teams in MLB. His blog published later in the day covers his findings.
"If the Cardinals win the NL Central and the Phillies win the NL wild card, eight of the top 10 payrolls in MLB will miss the playoffs this year. The last time that happened: 1993 (the final season in which only four teams made the postseason).
In the meantime, the Nos. 17 (Padres), 19 (Twins) and 21 (A's) payrolls are all going to make the playoffs (with lower payrolls combined than the Yankees). The Reds (No. 22) are still breathing. And good old No. 30 (the Marlins) just finished scaring the living crappola out of the NL wild-card field."
It's good as a fan to know that teams with the bigger payroll are not necessarily the better teams (at least in the context of making the playoff, that's all it matters, isn't it?). As long as your team doesn't make any less-than-intelligent personnel decisions (i.e. draft, free agent, trade, etc.), they can win! Look at DET & MIN this season... As long as the team has some talents (young ones from drafts, especially), they can do something on the field. That may be ATL, ARI, & FLA in NL & CLE & LAA in AL in the next couple of seasons.
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