Is it ALWAYS the wealthiest team who wins?

Spring training is in full swing and the debate concerning the "haves" and the "have nots" is heating up again. In other words, is it the Yankees who always win or do other less fiancially flexible teams have similar opportunities in October? Consider these payroll rank statistics when comparing them to regular season wins of teams in the postseason.


The World Series Champions are boxed in red. You can see that since the Yankees World Series win six years, three of the next five World Series Champions were not one of the top ten teams in payroll. Granted, the Yankees have money to spend no question. But it hasn't paid off in the last six years. In fact, the disparity between the Yankees payroll wise and the World Series winner has continued to grow since 2001. The difference between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Yankees was $27 million in 2001. In 2005, the difference between the Yankees and the Chicago Whitesox was $133 million.

Thus, teams are doing more with less and its culminating in championships.