Small-payroll teams making big noise in MLB playoffs

While the New York Mets have the highest payroll in baseball, they entered the postseason as underdogs. A large chunk of New York’s money is going to former starting pitchers Max Scherzer ($30.83 million) and Justin Verlander ($25 million). Instead of beating the Philadelphia Phillies with stars like Scherzer and Verlander, the Mets are winning with lower-budget players like Sean Manaea.

The Dodgers — after a flurry of high-profile and expensive signings this offseason — are on the brink of elimination to the San Diego Padres. San Diego ranks 15th in payroll after ranking third last season.

A trio of frugal American League Central teams have found postseason success, too, despite ranking in the bottom third of MLB in payroll. The Kansas City Royals (20th) are tied 1-1 in their division-series showdown with the Yankees and host Game 3 Wednesday night. The Cleveland Guardians (23rd) and Detroit Tigers (26th) are also tied at a game apiece. One of them will advance to the American League Championship Series.

It’s not that big-spending teams can’t win the big one. They can and have. The last World Series champion to rank outside the top 10 in payroll was the 2017 Houston Astros. Since then, the team with the highest payroll has won twice (2018 Boston Red Sox, 2020 Dodgers).

So what gives this season?

It has come down to young homegrown talent versus high-priced free agents. By and large, young homegrown talent has shown up for teams, while several high-priced free agents have not.

The Royals trio of Bobby Witt Jr. (24 years old), Vinnie Pasquantino (26) and Maikel Garcia (24) has been crucial to the team’s success, while in Detroit, Parker Meadows (24) and ALDS Game 2 hero Kerry Carpenter (27) have provided scintillating moments in Detroit’s run. Cleveland’s Steven Kwan (27) and a slew of other key contributors were drafted/signed and developed by the Guardians. Fernando Tatis Jr. (25) is the star of the postseason so far with a 1.988 OPS. He was developed in the Padres farm system.

The homegrown youngsters are defining the postseason.

To be fair, the Yankees aren’t the Yankees of the 1990s and 2000s when they spent almost double what all other teams spent. They have their own crop of homegrown talent in Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe.

However, many of the highest-paid Yankees haven’t shown up so far in the postseason. New York is waiting for Aaron Judge to make his mark on the postseason. Giancarlo Stanton has been a non-factor and Carlos Rodon fell apart in Game 2 after a solid opening to his start on the mound.

Out west, Shohei Ohtani’s stellar Game 1 performance seems in the distant past for the Dodgers. He’s 1-for-8 in the last two games. Freddie Freeman is 3-for-11 in the series, but has failed to drive in a run. On the mound, LA spent $325 million on free-agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He allowed five earned runs in three innings before being pulled in Game 1.

Though difficult to measure, surely there are intangibles at play. More money and higher-profile signings mean more pressure. For a team like the Royals, there’s nothing to lose going against the Yankees. The same could be said for the Tigers against Astros.

Will it last? The fate of each series seems to rest on the big-name free agents. Judge, Ohtani, Bryce Harper — their postseason moment awaits. Will it happen or is this the year of small-budget ball and underdogs?