Re-watching Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, I started wondering: How did the payrolls of the Marlins championship years stack up against the rest of the league?
The 2003 answer is especially surprising.
In 1997, the Marlins looked pretty much like an
average playoff team with the seventh largest payroll, at $47 million (upped
drastically from $30 million the previous year). Their World Series opponent,
the Cleveland Indians, were a bit higher at $54 million, making them the fourth
largest payroll. The Marlins’ biggest salary that year went to pitcher Alex
Fernandez, who was injured during the playoffs.
In 2003, the upstart Marlins had MLB’s 25th largest payroll, at $49 million, close to the bottom of the pack. No one paid them much attention when Jack took over as manager. Their World Series opponent, the Damn Yankees, lead the majors with a whopping $152 million. (The Bronx Busters also led in payroll in 1997.) The Fish’s highest paid player in 2003 was Pudge Rodriguez.
These stats come from thebaseballcube.com.
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