David vs. Goliath? No, that’s the Oakland A’s vs. the New York Yankees in Wednesday’s Wild Card matchup. The season series between the two squads was tied 3-3: interestingly, I witnessed one of those games myself in May—and the matchup in the Wild Card should be a good one. American League Home Run leader Khris Davis goes toe-to-toe with Yanks’ sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in a hitter-friendly ballpark of Yankee Stadium. Yes, all the aesthetic value is there. All the glimmer is there. But, that’s not the real story.
Does Moneyball ring a bell? Brad Pitt didn’t disappoint. In this case, it should be “anti-Moneyball.” The Oakland A’s are the first team in history to make the playoffs whilst entering the season with the lowest team payroll of $66 million. For comparison’s sake, the Red Sox are number one on that list with a payroll of $250+ million—about four times more than the A’s. Historically, the Yankees are up on that list also, this year notwithstanding—that’s what makes this game so interesting. How much is money a precursor for team success? Usually, a pretty good one. But, Oakland is set to bust that myth.
Baseball is a sport, yes? But, Major League Baseball is a business. Players who perform consistently asked to get paid more, the cost of paying good players causes ticket sales and memorabilia to go up, the more players are paid, the more likely the players are to be noticed and expected to perform well, thus causing fans to never grow tired of spending their money. If the A’s are the lowest paid team, suggesting their players were not expected to perform well, how did they make it to the playoffs and reach the same success thus far as the Yankees and potentially the Red Sox if they win the Wild Card? The lowest paid team vs. the highest paid team, what a concept.
Is it the underdog story that draws us closer? Or the “David vs. Goliath” anecdote I eluded to earlier? That perception is ironic, because the A’s and Yanks are essentially the same team—so it’s not really an underdog story. Therefore, it has to be the fact that the A’s aren’t paid as much as other teams. But why do we care so much? They’re playing the same game as the 29 other teams in the MLB. Is our society so driven by money that it dictates who we cheer for in a sporting event? “The Yankees buy their titles”, “How can you not win when your team gets paid that much?” Those assertions carry no relevance in terms of performance because when a pitch comes flying down the heart of the plate, your dollar signs aren’t going to hit it out of the park.
The A’s epitomize that statement, considering their clean-up hitter hit more home runs (48) than one of the highest paid players in J.D. Martinez, who will likely win the batting title. Yes, again, the A’s are breaking stereotypes. So, is it really “may the best team win” or is it “may the biggest dollar sign win”? If this season’s performance is any indication of what the playoffs will be, we will see much more of those Athletics from the West Coast. They’ll have to get by at least two of the highest paid teams (NY and BOS) to do it, but of course, Benjamin Franklin doesn’t play for either team, so we’ll just have to see what these A’s have in store.