The 2026 postseason has been a little bit different from 2024 and 2025, mainly because several smaller-market teams are still playing while some of the big spenders are at home. The New York Yankees, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies have all been eliminated, though the Mets and Blue Jays didn’t make the playoffs to begin with.
But as a lockout looms, the league and its owners continue to push hard for a salary cap. However, the teams that still remain alive have exposed the biggest flaw in the owners’ argument for a salary cap.
The only big spenders that are still alive in the playoff bracket are the Los Angeles Dodgers. Granted that is the team that has won back-to-back World Series titles, and that is partially where the owners’ argument begins. However, when you look at the rest of the teams that are still playing, there’s a significant gap in payrolls.
Roster Resource on Fangraphs shows the numbers for team payrolls, and three of the four teams that remain, the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians are in the bottom five in player payroll. Chicago has a payroll of $94 million, while Tampa Bay has a $90 million payroll and Cleveland an $87 million payroll.
The Milwaukee Brewers only have $142 million committed to their 2026 roster, so it’s ultimately proof that despite market-size and player payrolls, small market teams can win and even compete with the big market teams, many of whom are eliminated.
It’s also important to remember that spending big doesn’t guarantee a trip to the World Series, or any success for that matter. Teams can spend a lot of money and still fail, and the only team that has spent a lot of money and is still standing is the Dodgers.
Of course, many small market teams don’t have the same resources as the Dodgers and other big spenders, but that doesn’t mean they can’t win. It also doesn’t mean that they cannot afford to sign good players. They may have to do it at a lesser extent, but it’s still possible.
Spending money is not the only way for a team to compete for a World Series title. Aside from the Dodgers, the other four remaining teams have largely built their cores from within, and that still works out well.
So, if anything, the owners’ salary cap argument has taken a few hits this October. The entire argument will collapse if the Dodgers don’t three-peat.
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