Is It Getting Tougher to Build a Bad, Expensive Baseball Team?
Payroll and winning are more closely linked in 2025 than they’ve been in years, leaving fewer big-budget busts — though the Angels, Rangers and a few others prove they’re not extinct just yet.
I’ve written quite a bit about the relationship between spending and winning in baseball over the past year, but it makes sense — that relationship is central to one of the defining debates around the state of MLB now, and especially in the future:
Why is MLB "Likely" Headed For A Lockout?
One of my favorite YouTubers to toss on in the background and keep up with the world of sports media and business is Brodie Brazil, the longtime Bay Area broadcaster and host. But I wasn’t happy to wake up Tuesday and watch Brodie talk about this development looming over the start of baseball season, as pitchers and catchers began reporting to Spring Training:
And so it is that I find myself digging into the topic yet again today. This time, it’s after watching a Brodie Brazil video in which he is responding to this interesting story at The Athletic about which teams are trying or not. Pointing to the quadrant of their chart that represents high-spending teams that don’t win, he notes:
“You can see here there's kind of an absence of teams that spend a lot and are below .500. That doesn't exist. If you spend a lot, you're you're guaranteeing yourself a chance to be in the playoffs.”
That’s a bit reductive — but not by too much. I found here that opening your pocketbook like the biggest spenders in baseball can increase your odds of making the current, expanded postseason to around 80 percent, and if we assume the Top 6 teams in each league’s playoff odds will make it in this season, here’s a breakdown of the distribution of payroll ranks for playoff teams since the 12-team playoff field began in 2022:
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