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Does Money Buy Championships in Baseball? Ask the Brewers.
The final out of the 2026 World Series was a ground ball to second base.
Brice Turang threw to Jake Bauers at first, and the Milwaukee Brewers were World Series champions.
Bauers handed the baseball to his manager, Pat Murphy, who embraced him and said something that perfectly captured why I loved this postseason.
But I'll get to that.
First, I should mention that I'm a Mets fan.
Which means I've become something of an expert at watching enormous amounts of money accomplish absolutely nothing.
And this year, I got to watch some other wealthy teams experience the same disappointment.
It was glorious.
Does Spending More Money Help MLB Teams Win?
Of course it does. But having the best players doesn't necessarily mean having the best team.
Look at the Dodgers.
Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman have all won MVP awards. Blake Snell has two Cy Young Awards, and Tarik Skubal, acquired from Detroit in August, has two more.
I don't know how many trophies are represented in that clubhouse, but they probably need their own baggage carousel.
And yet, the Brewers swept them in four games. The same Brewers the Dodgers swept just one year earlier.
According to USA Today's 2026 MLB payroll rankings, the five highest-spending teams were the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, and Blue Jays.
Three made the playoffs. None reached the World Series.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee, ranked 19th in payroll, won the championship. Tampa Bay, ranked 25th, reached the World Series. Cleveland, with baseball's lowest payroll, reached the ALCS.
The Brewers and Rays had a combined payroll of approximately $242 million.
That's more than $100 million less than the Mets spent to miss the playoffs entirely.
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.
Probably both.
What Small-Market Baseball Teams Do Differently
When you can't afford to buy your way out of every problem, you have to find other ways to win.
Develop players. Identify overlooked talent. Build a roster that fits together. Execute the fundamentals.
The boring stuff.
I've coached youth baseball for years, and I constantly emphasize situational awareness.
Runner on second, nobody out?
Sometimes a ground ball to the right side is exactly what the team needs. Nobody gets a highlight reel, but now there's a runner on third with one out.
That's good baseball.
And if you want a wonderful example, look at Tampa Bay's Chandler Simpson.
The guy has never hit a major league home run.
Not one.
Yet in 2026, he batted .306, collected 175 hits, and stole 46 bases.
He puts the ball in play and runs like hell.
I love that.
I've written about why MLB batting averages have gotten so low, and Simpson represents a refreshing alternative to baseball's obsession with power.
He's not trying to be Aaron Judge. He's figured out what he does well and uses it to help his team win.
That's also why I've long admired the Tampa Bay Rays' approach to building winning teams.
They can't simply purchase another superstar whenever something goes wrong. They have to develop another solution.
And sometimes those limitations make an organization smarter.
When Having Too Much Money Makes You Dumb
I've owned a small business for years, and I recognize this dynamic.
When money is tight, you have to think creatively. Develop your people. Improve your systems. Get more out of what you already have.
But when money is plentiful, the easiest solution is often to spend more of it.
Need better pitching? Sign another ace.
Didn't win the World Series? Spend another hundred million dollars.
The danger isn't the money. It's the arrogance that can come with believing that because you have the most expensive people, you must have the best organization.
Which brings me to Bo Bichette.
After a mediocre 2026 season, Bichette exercised his $42 million option to return to the Mets.
Forty-two million dollars.
I don't blame him. If someone offered me $42 million guaranteed, I'd exercise that option so fast I'd pull a hamstring.
But as a Mets fan, I'm not celebrating.
Every winter, we're promised another superstar who will finally put us over the top. Then October arrives, and I'm watching somebody else's team.
Again.
I'm tired of winning the offseason.
I'd like to win some baseball games.
Pat Murphy's Lesson About Playing for the Team
Which brings me back to Jake Bauers and Pat Murphy.
Bauers had just caught the final out of the World Series and handed the baseball to his manager.
As ESPN reported, Murphy embraced Bauers, who was heading into free agency, and told him he was going to be a rich fucker.
Then he delivered this magnificent line:
"Just remember when you were on that horses--- Yankees team and you guys were all playing for yourself?"
He told Bauers to remember how they did things in Milwaukee.
God, I love that.
First, taking a shot at the Yankees immediately after winning the World Series is wonderful. As a Mets fan, that's practically a second championship.
But there's something much more meaningful here.
Murphy wasn't telling Bauers not to get paid. He was happy for him.
He was telling him not to forget what made their team successful. Not to forget what it felt like to play with people who put winning ahead of themselves.
And not to let the money change that.
That's what I love about baseball.
For all the analytics, enormous contracts, MVP trophies, and Cy Young Awards, nine players still have to figure out how to win together.
The 2026 postseason reminded us that money gives you an advantage. It doesn't give you an entitlement.
And sometimes, having less forces you to become better at the things that matter most.
Money can buy you better players. It can't buy you better baseball.
“Know what’s enough. Build what matters.”
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