Major League Baseball: The standard bearer of parity in pro sports
Major League Baseball arguably has the greatest competitive balance among the four major North American pro sports leagues -- even though it's the only one without a salary cap.
This December has amplified those tidings of hope and joy across the national pastime.
According to STATS LLC, 21 of 30 MLB franchises have earned postseason berths over the past five years; the NFL, a supposed paragon of sports parity, has had 24 of 32 teams reach the playoffs during the same period.
But baseball has the edge on a percentage basis. The NFL's 24-21 advantage is negated by offering roughly 30 percent more postseason berths over the same period. (In the NFL, 37.5 percent of teams make the playoffs; MLB is at 33.3, even after the recent expansion.)
Baseball's model isn't perfect, of course. Recent payroll-cutting overhauls in Oakland and Tampa Bay wouldn't have occurred if those franchises were playing in the new stadiums they've needed for years. ... And yet, those franchises are perennial winners: The A's have three straight playoff appearances; the Rays have four in the past seven years.
In a healthy sports league, the vast majority of fans should feel their favorite teams have legitimate chances to make the playoffs at the start of each year. That is the case in MLB today -- and undoubtedly is one of Bud Selig's signature triumphs as he nears the end of his tenure as commissioner.
Consider:
• The Blue Jays (1993), Mariners (2001) and Marlins (2003) are the only teams without a playoff berth in the last 10 seasons. All three have made major offseason upgrades and will report to spring training with real postseason hopes.
• Two of the most active teams during the offseason -- the White Sox and Padres -- ranked among MLB's bottom third in player payroll this year, according to official figures published by the Associated Press. In each case, the work of a bold owner and imaginative general manager jolted what had been a dormant fan base.
• The game's recent trend -- toward younger, balanced teams and away from inflexible, superstar-laden rosters -- provides a more reasonable pathway to success for mid- and small-market clubs. The teams that won playoff series in October -- the Giants, Cardinals, Orioles and Royals -- ranked seventh, 12th, 15th and 19th in payroll, respectively, according to the AP.
• Among teams with the six largest payrolls, three missed the playoffs entirely (Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox), and two were swept in the first round (Tigers, Angels). The Dodgers managed a single playoff victory after spending an MLB-record $277.7 million.
Yes, outliers remain. The Mets, without a playoff berth in eight years, are a big-market punchline. New York's National League franchise had a lower 2014 payroll than the RAYS -- yes, the worst-attendance-in-baseball, desperate-for-a-stadium Rays. But in most of the majors' 30 outposts, the winter of 2014-2015 is a marvelous time to be a baseball fan.
