The smartest team in baseball is the Tampa Bay Rays – once again.
In
all three years I’ve measured this, the Rays have every time did the best in
seeing how little money it takes to produce each win. Their 2020 payroll of
$28.3 million produced 40 wins – meaning each win cost them $707,500.
Once
again, the worst performing team was the Red Sox -- $83.7 million in payroll
got them 24 wins. That’s $3.45 million for each win.
The other super
big-spenders: Yankees at $3.3 million, Mets at $2.9M, Rangers at $2.87 M and
Astros. $2.84 M.
The Marlins were also
high-performing, making the playoffs by spending only $1 million per win.
Impressive, considering that their payroll of $31.3 million includes $10
million guaranteed to the nonplaying Wei-Yin Chen.
There are various ways to play around with this formula. One would be to add post-season victories to the mix. The Rays, for example, have already had nine, heading into the World Series. Or you could count post-season victories as double or triple wins. I decided to stay with just the regular season.
Note: I use Spotrac for payrolls, because they update
throughout the season and include total payroll, adding those still being paid
though they’re not playing.
The full list:
|
TEAM |
$$$ |
WINS |
$/WIN |
|
|
Tampa
Bay Rays |
28.3 |
40 |
0.7075 |
|
|
Orioles |
23.5 |
25 |
0.94 |
|
|
Marlins |
31.3 |
31 |
1.0097 |
|
|
A's |
36.7 |
36 |
1.0194 |
|
|
Indians |
37.5 |
35 |
1.0714 |
|
|
Pirates |
25.1 |
19 |
1.3211 |
|
|
Royals |
34.8 |
26 |
1.3385 |
|
|
Brewers |
39.9 |
29 |
1.3759 |
|
|
White
Sox |
52.4 |
35 |
1.4971 |
|
|
Twins |
55.4 |
36 |
1.5389 |
|
|
Blue
Jays |
54.5 |
32 |
1.7031 |
|
|
Reds |
55.6 |
31 |
1.7935 |
|
|
Braves |
63.1 |
35 |
1.8029 |
|
|
Mariners |
48.9 |
27 |
1.8111 |
|
|
Tigers |
43.1 |
23 |
1.8739 |
|
|
Padres |
72.6 |
37 |
1.9622 |
|
|
League
Average |
59.4 |
30 |
1.98 |
|
|
Cubs |
75.6 |
34 |
2.2235 |
|
|
Rockies |
61.8 |
26 |
2.3769 |
|
|
Diamondbacks |
60 |
25 |
2.4 |
|
|
Cards |
72.2 |
30 |
2.4067 |
|
|
Dodgers |
107.9 |
43 |
2.5093 |
|
|
Giants |
73.3 |
29 |
2.5276 |
|
|
Angels |
66 |
26 |
2.5385 |
|
|
Nats |
68.3 |
26 |
2.6269 |
|
|
Phillies |
78.6 |
28 |
2.8071 |
|
|
Astros |
82.5 |
29 |
2.8448 |
|
|
Rangers
|
63.2 |
22 |
2.8727 |
|
|
Mets |
77.6 |
26 |
2.9846 |
|
|
Yankees |
109.4 |
33 |
3.3152 |
|
|
Red
Sox |
83.7 |
24 |
30 |
3.4875 |
