Boosted by revenue-sharing money and changes in MLB's CBA, many small-market teams "have revived and have a chance to reach the 10-team playoffs each October," according to Ronald Blum of the AP. With the return of the Royals to the postseason this season, only the Marlins, Mariners and Blue Jays have "failed to appear in the playoffs during the past decade." But winning the World Series still has "remained elusive for the low rollers." Every World Series-winning team since the '03 Marlins "has had a payroll among MLB's 13 highest that year." Pirates President Frank Coonelly, whose team faces several offseason questions after playing in the NL Wild Card game for the second straight year, said, "I don't believe there's a way to overstate the impact of the collective bargaining agreements on teams in markets like ours and Kansas City. Quite simply, without the revenue sharing agreement in Major League Baseball we couldn't exist in Pittsburgh and it would be very difficult to exist in as many as five to eight other markets in baseball." Blum noted despite a luxury tax "designed to slow spending," the Dodgers have raised their payroll to a record $255.9M. Marlins President David Samson: "What revenue sharing has done is leveled the playing field over the course of a 162-game season, and when you look at competitive balance you measure it by the number of teams who have a chance to win the World Series. Revenue sharing does not account for the vagaries and the luck that is required to prevail in a World Series" (AP, 10/2).
HEY, BIG SPENDER: In San Diego, Tom Krasovic notes in MLB, where payroll spending is "far more apt to track the size of the 30 franchises' media markets, it’d be unthinkable for the Padres to outspend the Yankees" by $19M. But that is the "gap between the Chargers and Jets," who play this Sunday. NFL fans and media are "focused on games, not big market vs. small market." Among Padres fans, the team's "spending habits are a constant source of speculation and griping." But with Chargers fans, there is "no built-in carping, no conspiracy theory-mongering about dollar disadvantages." That is because their payroll will "rival the other 31 clubs over a rolling three-year period." Competitive balance "is on the rise in MLB," but NFL big-market teams "simply aren’t allowed to spend away their problems as, say, the Yankees and Dodgers can and have" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/3).
