The Brewers’ trip to the NLCS is doing more than keeping Milwaukee’s October alive. It’s turning the spotlight on the kind of payroll gap baseball has lived with for years - and showing that money, while powerful, does not decide everything.
Milwaukee, playing in MLB’s smallest media market and carrying just the 19th-highest team payroll this season, is back in the National League Championship Series for a second straight year. That alone makes for a striking run. Add in the fact that the Brewers are facing the Dodgers, baseball’s financial heavyweight, and the contrast becomes impossible to ignore.
According to Forbes, Milwaukee entered the postseason with a luxury-tax payroll of about $154.7 million. The Dodgers checked in at approximately $433 million, the highest figure in the sport. That leaves nearly a $280 million gap between the two clubs fighting for the same NL pennant.
The Brewers have already backed up the point with results. They knocked out the San Diego Padres in four games in the NLDS, despite San Diego carrying a roster that cost about $110 million more. The Padres had the eighth-highest payroll in baseball, and it still wasn’t enough to slow Milwaukee down.
The regular season only sharpened the contrast. The Brewers finished 103-59, the best record in baseball, while the Dodgers ended up three games behind them. Then Milwaukee took the first two games of the NLCS, moving within reach of its first World Series appearance since 1982 and a shot at the franchise’s first championship.
Milwaukee’s run isn’t the only one giving smaller-spending clubs a stage.
The Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays have also reached their league championship series despite sitting near the bottom of MLB in payroll. Forbes lists Cleveland at 29th with a luxury-tax payroll of about $92.6 million, while Tampa Bay is 27th at roughly $113.2 million.
Put the three clubs together, and their combined payroll comes to about $360.5 million - still nearly $73 million less than the Dodgers alone. Even with the sport’s richest teams often sitting atop the spending charts, the postseason has not broken cleanly along payroll lines. Only eight of the 10 highest-spending teams in MLB made the playoffs.
Two of the biggest spenders never got the chance to test that theory. The Mets, who were second in payroll, missed the postseason entirely. The Yankees, ranked third, were sent home by the Rays in the ALDS.
That’s why the Brewers’ run has also landed in the middle of baseball’s broader financial debate. The players’ union has pointed to this postseason as proof against the need for a salary cap.
"The league’s claims that payroll disparities require a salary cap, which is the ultimate restriction on player compensation and fundamental rights, is as always a sham, to mask their real goal of putting more profits in owners’ pockets.," players' union's executive director, Bruce Meyer, said. "Every team in baseball has the ability and resources to be competitive if they have the desire to do so."
In Other News...
Brewers Are Betting Big On Jacob Misiorowski Fix In Game 1
Jacob Misiorowskis postseason has come with as much adjustment as adrenaline, and the Brewers used the off time before World Series Game 1 to address it. Pitching coach Chris Hook and coordinator Jim Henderson spent Misiorowskis 11-day reset working through the delivery issues that had started to chip away at the impact of his fastball, a pitch Milwaukee needs to be right if it wants him to look like the force it believes he can be.
Now the 23-year-old is lined up to take the ball in Game 1, which gives the Brewers a chance to start the series with one of their most electric arms on the mound. It also adds another layer to an already unusual postseason for Misiorowski, who is set to become the youngest pitcher to start three Game 1s in the same run, with Milwaukee clearly betting that the fixes will show up when the spotlight is brightest. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Woodruffs Brewers Return Suddenly Comes With One Big Catch
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Matt Arnold sounded encouraged by what he has seen from Woodruff, but there is still a complication hanging over the Brewers World Series roster plans. League rules can affect whether an injured player can be swapped in if the injury is viewed as recurring or pre-existing, and with Milwaukee expected to announce its 26-man roster soon, Woodruffs status remains one of the more intriguing questions left to settle. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers World Series Menu Is Pure Wisconsin And Fans Will Love It
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The details make the menu even more intriguing because the planning started long before the Brewers had any idea theyd be hosting this stage. There is also a special Klsch on tap at the stadium, adding another local touch to a setup that feels tailor-made for a postseason run, even if the full story of how it all came together is still waiting to be told. [Read more 🡒]