# Payroll and playoffs in MLB **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 5, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/payroll-and-playoffs-in-mlb/444097 "2008-04-05T17:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/payroll-and-playoffs-in-mlb/444097/61 "2008-04-10T14:58:03Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] Do baseball fans get excited about the MLB draft? [/QUOTE] No, because the majority of those players will never reach the Major Leagues and the surefire AAA prospects are at least two years away. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/payroll-and-playoffs-in-mlb/444097/62 "2008-10-01T16:41:55Z")
Okay, playoffs are set, let’s see what we have. Rereading the thread to see what the claims were – great read, btw – I see that my stated hypothesis was this: “I would suggest that on opening day, if your team’s payroll is in the top half of the league, your team has a significantly better chance of making the playoffs than those in the bottom half.” [2008 opening day payrolls](http://sportsline.com/mlb/salaries/teams). ```auto 1 $209,081,579 New York Yankees 2 $138,685,197 Detroit Tigers 3 $138,293,378 New York Mets 4 $133,440,037 Boston Red Sox 5 $121,152,667 Chicago White Sox 6 $119,216,333 Los Angeles Angels 7 $118,595,833 Chicago Cubs 8 $118,536,038 Los Angeles Dodgers 9 $117,993,982 Seattle Mariners 10 $102,424,018 Atlanta Braves 11 $100,624,450 St. Louis Cardinals 12 $98,641,957 Toronto Blue Jays 13 $98,269,881 Philadelphia Phillies 14 $88,930,415 Houston Astros 15 $81,004,167 Milwaukee Brewers 16 $78,970,067 Cleveland Indians 17 $76,904,500 San Francisco Giants 18 $74,277,695 Cincinnati Reds 19 $73,677,617 San Diego Padres 20 $68,655,500 Colorado Rockies 21 $68,239,551 Texas Rangers 22 $67,196,248 Baltimore Orioles 23 $66,202,713 Arizona Diamondbacks 24 $62,182,767 Minnesota Twins 25 $58,245,500 Kansas City Royals 26 $54,961,000 Washington Nationals 27 $49,365,283 Pittsburgh Pirates 28 $47,967,126 Oakland Athletics [color=Blue]29 $43,820,598 Tampa Bay Rays 30 $21,836,500 Florida Marlins[/COLOR] ``` Even though neither the Yankees nor Mets made the playoffs this year, the playoffs spots are completely dominated by the teams that had high payrolls on opening day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/payroll-and-playoffs-in-mlb/444097.md?page=3)