Baseball's Small Market Teams

Paul Daugherty wrote a very interesting article this week for SI.com. Check it out here. P-Doc makes the point that markets like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Washington, Kansas City, etc. are only in the league for opponents like the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers have teams to play. The fact of the matter is the big payroll teams win games (Chicago excluded.) The Reds will never be a solid contender with a payroll around $70 million. Only the $100 million teams win. Sure, there have been exceptions like Tampa Bay and Florida who made it to the World Series. But those are the exception rather than the rule. The big payroll, big market teams will continue to win because that is how baseball wants it.