When the Milwaukee Brewers completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers to capture the National League pennant, they guaranteed a World Series matchup between two of Major League Baseball’s lowest spenders for the first time in 35 years.
Milwaukee, which finished the regular season with the majors’ 19th-highest payroll, will face either the Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays when the best-of-seven championship round begins Oct. 23, the Associated Press reported. Both American League finalists also sit in the bottom tier of team payrolls, with Tampa Bay ranking 25th and Cleveland ranking 30th on opening day.
The last time two clubs from the bottom half of big league payrolls clashed for the title was in 1991, when the Minnesota Twins defeated the Atlanta Braves, according to the AP. Minnesota entered that season ranked 15th out of 26 teams in spending, while Atlanta was 19th.
Clash Over Competitive Balance
The rare matchup of small-budget finalists arrives as team owners and the MLB Players Association clash over economics ahead of an expected Dec. 2 lockout. Owners have proposed instituting a salary cap and salary floor, contending that substantial payroll disparities leave small-market clubs unable to compete on a reliable basis.
Big-market heavyweights like the Dodgers, New York Mets and New York Yankees each maintained opening-day payrolls north of $300 million, surpassing the combined rosters of the Brewers, Guardians and Rays, according to figures compiled by the AP. The Dodgers carried a payroll of more than $323 million and owed roughly $180 million in luxury tax penalties alone, ESPN reported.
Despite those figures, Commissioner Rob Manfred argued at the All-Star Game in July that single-season exceptions do not disprove long-term financial advantages. “The data in our sport is stark: Your opportunity to make the playoffs if you are a larger-market team is dramatically higher and your opportunity to proceed to the subsequent rounds, that advantage grows with each round,” Manfred said.
Union leadership and players see the current playoff results as proof that the sport does not need a hard ceiling on salaries. MLBPA head Bruce Meyer maintained at the All-Star break that every club has the resources to contend without a cap system. Player agent Scott Boras told the AP on Friday that while larger payrolls increase the odds of success, performance on the field involves numerous unpredictable variables.
Fundamentals Over Payroll
Players on the remaining rosters credit roster construction, bullpen depth and situational execution for neutralizing opponent spending advantages. Tampa Bay, Milwaukee and Cleveland all ranked among baseball’s best in stolen bases, bunting and bullpen performance while minimizing strikeouts, according to ESPN.
“If owners wanted to spend, they would, and teams that might not spend the money on a roster still find a way to win,” Guardians first baseman Nathaniel Lowe told ESPN. “It’s not a payroll issue. It’s commitment to winning.”
The American League pennant remains up for grabs. Cleveland held a 2-1 series lead over Tampa Bay entering Game 4 on Friday night at Progressive Field. Whichever club advances will join Milwaukee in crowning an uncommon champion: Neither the Rays nor the Brewers have ever won a World Series, and the Guardians have not captured the title since 1948.
