Baseball BeatOctober 07, 2011
Money Isn't Everything
By Rich Lederer

No Boston Red Sox. No New York Yankees. No Philadelphia Phillies. The three highest payrolls in Major League Baseball failed to make the final four. In fact, seven of the top ten teams didn't even make the postseason.

With the Yankees losing the ALDS to the Detroit Tigers yesterday and the Phillies falling short to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS this evening, none of the top nine payrolls are still alive and well.

As shown below, the 10th, 11th, 13th, and 17th highest payroll teams remain in the hunt to win the World Series. Congratulations to all four organizations, as well as the No. 25 Arizona Diamondbacks and No. 29 Tampa Bay Rays.

Num TEAM TOTAL PAYROLL AVERAGE SALARY
1 New York Yankees $202,689,028 $6,756,300
2 Philadelphia Phillies $172,976,379 $5,765,879
3 Boston Red Sox $161,762,475 $5,991,202
4 Los Angeles Angels $138,543,166 $4,469,134
5 Chicago White Sox $127,789,000 $4,732,925
6 Chicago Cubs $125,047,329 $5,001,893
7 New York Mets $118,847,309 $4,401,752
8 San Francisco Giants $118,198,333 $4,377,716
9 Minnesota Twins $112,737,000 $4,509,480
10 Detroit Tigers $105,700,231 $3,914,823
11 St. Louis Cardinals $105,433,572 $3,904,947
12 Los Angeles Dodgers $104,188,999 $3,472,966
13 Texas Rangers $92,299,264 $3,182,733
14 Colorado Rockies $88,148,071 $3,390,310
15 Atlanta Braves $87,002,692 $3,346,257
16 Seattle Mariners $86,524,600 $2,884,153
17 Milwaukee Brewers $85,497,333 $2,849,911
18 Baltimore Orioles $85,304,038 $3,280,924
19 Cincinnati Reds $75,947,134 $2,531,571
20 Houston Astros $70,694,000 $2,437,724
21 Oakland Athletics $66,536,500 $2,376,303
22 Washington Nationals $63,856,928 $2,201,963
23 Toronto Blue Jays $62,567,800 $2,018,316
24 Florida Marlins $56,944,000 $2,190,153
25 Arizona Diamondbacks $53,639,833 $1,986,660
26 Cleveland Indians $49,190,566 $1,639,685
27 San Diego Padres $45,869,140 $1,479,649
28 Pittsburgh Pirates $45,047,000 $1,553,344
29 Tampa Bay Rays $41,053,571 $1,578,983
30 Kansas City Royals $36,126,000 $1,338,000

* The salary information is courtesy of USA Today.