In an article published yesterday, MLB.com Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy wrote that the Dodgers “outspend the Brewers by the GDP of a developing nation.”
That line was no doubt intended simply as a humorous
remark, but thinking about how massive the difference is in payroll made my head hurt. So, I decided to actually do the math. Milwaukee spent $121,674,704 on their roster this season, while Los Angeles spent $350,300,236 — the most in the league. The difference in payrolls between the two teams is $228,625,532.
As the Brewers (and other small market teams) have proven, you don’t need to spend $350 million dollars to make it to the NLCS. Having a small payroll is obviously a handicap, but one that doesn’t necessarily preclude success — especially when an organization has a talented front office and player development staff. All of this, obviously, begs the question: why haven’t the Dodgers simply decided to spend their money more efficiently?
If Los Angeles could manage to field a contender with the Brewers’ $121M payroll, they would have a ton of extra money — enough money left over to fund the island nation of Tuvalu (annual gross domestic product — $62 million) four times over. If they only wanted to buy Tuvalu once, they would also enough left over for one of three other countries — the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, or Palau. Micronesia is slightly out of their price range, at $460 million. The $700 million LA spent on Shohei Ohtani could have instead been used to subsidize the African island nation of São Tomé and Principe.
What else could the Dodgers buy with the extra $228M+ left over? They could buy the naming rights to American Family Field (an estimated $60M), with enough left over to buy a medium sized cruise ship. The sting of a playoff loss would no doubt be lessened by a team-sponsored, fully funded vacation for the players. If they didn’t care about naming rights, they could also buy an Airbus A330 private jet. Other options within the Dodgers’ budget would include:
- All 515 Raising Canes locations
- 14,000-ish Nissan Versas
- 2,300 Teslas
- Milwaukee-area food bank Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, 2.5 times over
- Van Gogh’s most expensive painting (x2)
- Van Gogh’s least expensive painting (x460)
- The city of Sonoma, California
- A majority ownership stake in a mid-level European soccer club (AS Monaco, for example)
- 46 million ButterBurgers from Culver’s
- Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Malibu compound
- Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, where the A’s will play for the next couple of years (x5.5)
So, yeah. If the Dodgers managed to shrink their payroll down to the size of the Brewers’, they would have enough money left over to buy the A’s stadium, a European soccer team, and rename AmFam Field. Every year. If they managed to save up for five years, they would be able to buy:
- Every Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and McLaren ever made (x2)
- The Columbus Blue Jackets
- Samoa
- Nosara, Costa Rica (or build an entirely new town that could house ~1,000 people)
- 230 million ButterBurgers from Culvers
So, Dodgers front office, if you’re reading this — spend your money wisely. Why shell out hundreds of millions on unproven international prospects or high-priced free agent acquisitions when you could draft well and build a contender for a third of the price? You could literally buy a small town to house your entire organization if you spent what the Brewers do for five years. Maybe if the Dodgers had a GM like Matt Arnold, they’d be able to build a championship contender without spending the entire GDP of a small island country.
My tone throughout this article has been sarcastic and mildly unserious, but please allow me to get serious for a second. All of this is meant to serve as a reminder that ownership, management, and talent are just as important as throwing lots of money at superstars. Milwaukee wasn’t anywhere near the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes, but they’ve managed to build a team that competes with Los Angeles through scouting, development, and shrewd trades.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is on a $162 million contract, while Brewers first baseman Andrew Vaughn got sent down to the minors by the lowly White Sox earlier this year. Yet, Vaughn’s OPS+ as a Brewer (141) is the exact same as Freeman’s. It’s definitely not a level playing field, but the Brewers have made it work.
As the Brewers face off against the Dodgers in the NLCS, let this article serve as a reminder as to how impressive this season has been. Milwaukee has built an organization that succeeds in spite of a low payroll, a trait that should be indicative of long-lasting success.
I know most people reading this will be Brewers fans, but if you’re a fan of another team — especially a small market team — root for the Brewers in the NLCS. Even if your favorite team is out, think about how fun it would be to watch a team with a bottom-third payroll knock off the richest team in baseball and advance to the World Series. Parity and competitiveness are important in any sport — the Brewers even being here is good for the game of baseball. If you’re a baseball fan, you should root for them.
Game 1 of the NLCS is tonight at 7:08 p.m. May the best team win.
