Two of smallest spenders will meet in World Series
The Milwaukee Brewers celebrate their ALCS victory on Thursday, sweeping Kike Hernandez (left) and the high-spending Los Angeles Dodgers. (Mark J. Terrill / The Associated Press)
NEW YORK — When the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the mighty, monied Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night, they set up the first World Series between two of baseball's smallest spenders in 35 years — just as team owners are arguing that clubs like the Brewers need a salary cap to compete consistently.
Milwaukee will face Cleveland or Tampa Bay in a best-of-seven series for the title beginning Oct. 23.
Game 4 of the American League Championship series was postponed due to rain on Friday. The game was rescheduled to today at 7 p.m. in Cleveland, with Game 5 pushed back to Sunday at 4 p.m.
Regardless of who claims the pennant — Cleveland holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series — two clubs in the bottom half of big league payrolls will play in the World Series for the first time since 1991.
The Dodgers, New York Mets and New York Yankees will watch from home with payrolls this season that each cost more than the Brewers', Guardians' and Rays' rosters combined.
The low-budget World Series showdown will start six weeks before a likely management lockout, a work stoppage that threatens the 2027 season as owners and players battle over the sport's lack of a salary cap.
Speaking at the All-Star Game in July, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred made his case for a cap while saying exceptions did not reflect parity.
Milwaukee, which won the NL pennant with a four-game sweep of the Dodgers, had MLB's 19th-highest payroll as of Aug. 31, while Tampa Bay was 25th and Cleveland 30th. The last time both pennant winners were among the bottom 50 per cent in player spending was when Minnesota (15th among 26 teams) beat Atlanta (19th) for the 1991 championship.
In terms of market size, Milwaukee ranks as MLB's 30th and smallest Designated Market Area, defined by Nielsen as non-overlapping geographic regions that group counties based on television viewing areas. Cleveland is 22nd and Tampa Bay 15th.
If the Guardians win the AL pennant, this would mark the first World Series involving two teams in the bottom half of MLB cities by DMA since St. Louis (24th) beat Detroit (18th) in 2006. No small-market team has won the World Series since Kansas City in 2015.
Three years after the Twins won that 1991 title, players went on strike as owners pushed for a salary cap, leading to the cancellation of the World Series. No such cap was added, and owners hadn't proposed one again until this summer.
Opening-day payrolls were topped by the Mets (US$358.4 million), Dodgers (US$323.3 million) and Yankees (US$302.8 million). The Brewers were at US$125.9 million, the Rays US$90.5 million and the Guardians US$75.5 million.
Manfred maintains spending big increases the odds of success.
— The Associated Press