The most amazing thing about the field of participants in Major League Baseball’s 2020 postseason is not that the Miami Marlins are in it. It’s that the Oakland A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays could win it.
This was supposed to be the year – and it still could be – that the mega markets took over the game again, with the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers picked to win their respective leagues’ shortened seasons and meet again – for the 12th time – in the World Series. The Dodgers did win the National League West by seven games and are favored to win the NL pennant — although several other teams will have something to say about it.
The Yankees were something of a disappointment, finishing seven games back of the 40-win Rays in the American League East. They still made the postseason field as the second place team in their division and will be among the favorites to advance, but it won’t be an easy road. Meanwhile, the defending AL champs, the Houston Astros, finished seven games back of Oakland.
One of the biggest complaints about Major League Baseball isn’t the length of games, it’s that the wealth and perceived power is concentrated in the big markets, like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. MLB is full of franchises who bemoan the fact they can’t keep up with the Dodgers or Yankees because they don’t have close to the same kinds of resources.
So the small market, low-payroll Rays and A’s aren’t supposed to be able to compete. They don’t have the resources or deep pockets to bring in guys like Giancarlo Stanton or Mookie Betts. They have among the lowest payrolls in the game. They’re supposed to spend time complaining about the lack of a salary cap in MLB and how the playing field is tilted. Instead, they use advanced analytics to pick up bargain basement talent that produces top shelf results. In places like Tampa, Oakland, and Minnesota – where the Twins won the AL Central Division by a game over Cleveland – they’re doing just fine, thank you.
In baseball, being in a big market hasn’t been a guarantee of anything. Over the past decade, mid and small market teams like San Francisco, Kansas City and St. Louis have won World Series championships. Boston has won a pair, and the Chicago Cubs have also won one…but neither the Dodgers nor and Yankees have. There’s been substantial playoff drought for the New York Mets (2016) and Anaheim (Los Angeles) Angels (2014), and the Chicago White Sox have been abysmal right up until this season, when they earned a playoff spot for the first time in 15 years.
Being in a small market doesn’t automatically doom any franchise to being a doormat, either. This year’s expanded playoff field not only includes the Rays, A’s and Twins, but also those surprising Marlins, San Diego, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. None of those are considered large market clubs. The Mets and Angels are watching from home.
You’d think that whatever these successful small market franchises are doing would be the model for other mid and small market organizations who are trying to find a way to stay in the playoff chase year after year. So where are the copycats? Is anyone in places like Arizona, Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit or Pittsburgh paying any attention? Why aren’t any of these teams offering promotions to people like Oakland GM David Forst or A’s Assistant GM Billy Owens? How about Tampa’s VP of Player Development Peter Bendix? Seems like folks who have worked in a successful environment in a highly competitive industry would have some constructive ideas to bring to a new table.
The blueprint has actually been available for a while. “Moneyball” came out in 2003. The concept was slow to catch on with most teams outside of Oakland, but over the years one of the biggest fans of the small market approach has become the Dodgers, who despite their immense financial advantages, have built eight straight NL division champions the same way Tampa and Oakland have. The architect of the Dodgers new “developmental” approach is none other than former Rays GM Andrew Friedman.
So the question that looms over franchises like the Diamondbacks, Orioles, Rockies, Tigers, Pirates and others is “Why aren’t you scraping your old way of doing things and instead trying to replicate what these successful small market organizations are doing?”
Being a copycat isn’t a bad thing.
Listen to Mark Knudson on Monday’s at 12:30 with Brady Hull on AM 1310 KFKA and on Saturday mornings on “Klahr and Kompany” on AM 1600 ESPN Denver.
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