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Professional sports in general, and Major League Baseball in particular, has often drawn the ire of fans around the country for being a classic illustration of the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.
And over the years, the difference in payrolls among the 30 Major League teams has no doubt done its part to create a competitive disadvantage.
The free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers finally broke through a three and a half decades World Series drought -- if the greatly truncated 2020 COVID-19 season is tossed out -- and won their first World Championship since 1988 after a 162-game regular season in 2024, then promptly followed that up with another World Series title last fall.
Teams like the Dodgers, New York Yankees and New York Mets that can sign high-priced talented free agents by the boatload have a built-in competitive advantage on a playing field that is far from level.
It almost causes some to speculate whether Major League Baseball should break up its divisions according to comparative payrolls rather than geographic locations.
But the 2026 World Series, which began Friday night, provides a wonderful outlier to the idea that small-market teams have little or no chance at the big prize.
The 2026 World Series teams -- the National League's Milwaukee Brewers and the American League's Tampa Bay Rays -- have, particularly in recent years, consistently played above their pay grades and disproved the notion that the teams who shell out the most money always reap the biggest rewards.
The numbers in the bank books this year (according to a USA Today tracker) provide a glaring rebuttal to the argument that the highest spending teams are inevitably the most successful.
The New York Mets -- whose $346.8 million payroll tops MLB -- have now missed the postseason two years in a row.
The Dodgers -- whose $338 million payroll ranks them second in MLB -- were swept in four straight games this year in the National League Championship Series by the Brewers, whose $143.5 million payroll ranks them 19th among MLB spenders.
Two-time National League Manager of the Year Pat Murphy of the Brewers, who stands a good chance of receiving that honor for the third straight season when it is announced this November, came out with the line of the postseason after the Brewers stunned the Dodgers.
"They've got Hall of Famers, and we've got gamers,'' Murphy said of the below-the-radar Brewers, who don't have many household names on their roster. Yet.
Furthermore, the payrolls of the Mets and Dodgers exceed three of this year's MLB postseason teams -- the Brewers, Tampa Bay and the Cleveland Guardians -- combined.
The Brewers (at 143.5 million), the Rays (with a payroll of 98.3 million that ranks 25th in MLB), and the Guardians - who have made the postseason three straight years and the American League Championship Series two straight years - check in with an MLB low payroll of just 74.2 million.
The Yankees' third-highest MLB payroll of 304 million couldn't prevent them from being ousted by the Rays in the AL Division Series.
The Philadelphia Phillies, with a fourth-highest MLB payroll of 291.7 million, didn't make it past the NL Wild Card Series, where they were sidelined by the Atlanta Braves.
The Toronto Blue Jays, whose payroll of 275.4 million is fifth highest among the 30 MLB teams, watched the playoffs on their living room sofas this month.
In some ways, this can bode well for long-suffering PIttsburgh PIrates' fans who may feel that the deck is stacked against them as a small-market franchise.
The Pirates haven't made the National League playoffs since 2015 and haven't won a World Championship since 1979 - nearly half a century.
Things started looking up a bit for the Bucs in 2026, when the Pirates posted just their second winning season in the last 11 years (82-80) and made a franchise record financial commitment of $140 million over nine years for prized shortstop Konnor Griffin, guaranteeing that his most productive baseball seasons will be spent in a Pittsburgh uniform.
The Pirates' 2026 payroll of 107.6 million still ranks them 23rd among all MLB teams, but the Brewers and Rays - both of whom are trying to win their first World Championship in their franchise histories - have provided the Pirates with a magnificent blueprint for success for which an astute general manager like the Pirates' Ben Cherington has no doubt taken plenty of notice.
Both Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have generally eschewed expensive free-agent signings. The Brewers, whose only World Series appearance back in 1982 was as an American League team that lost that Fall Classic in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals - have excelled in draft and development.
The Brewers have 80 scouts and 46 analytics department employees on their payroll, so they keep an eye on the little things that often wind up being the most important things.
Milwaukee has 10 homegrown players on this year's team that were drafted by the organization and developed in its farm system, including first-round draft picks in second baseman Bryce Turang (2018), center fielder Garrett Mitchell (2020), and third baseman/right fielder Sal Frelick (2021), all of whom have become veteran mainstays.
Milwaukee has also excelled in plucking talent from the international amateur market, getting budding outfielders Jackson Churio, a budding superstar, and Luis Lara, from Venezuela, and stellar reliever Abner Uribe from the Dominican Republic.
Key trade acquisitions that didn't cost Milwaukee an arm and a leg at the bargaining table included all-star catcher William Contreras, this year's National League Championship Series MVP Jake Bauers, and lockdown closer Trevor Megill.
Milwaukee plucked the junior college ranks to get this year's expected National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski in the second round of the 2022 MLB Amateur Draft, key rotation piece Logan Henderson in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, and late-inning relief hammer Aaron Ashby in the fourth round in 2017.
Tampa Bay has flourished via making the type of judicious trades that brought two of this year's stars - third baseman Junior Caminero and first baseman Yandy Diaz - from Cleveland in 2021 and 2018, respectively, and rotation ace Drew Rasmussen in another trade with Milwaukee.
Late this year, the Rays acquired veteran pitcher Freddy Peralta in a trade with the Mets for prospects, and he has been outstanding during Tampa Bay's pennant drive.
So while there are different routes to a World Championship, and outspending the opposition is often one of the top strategies, both Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, in playing to decide what will be a different and interesting World Series this year, have proven that there is more than one way to get the job done.
(John Hartsock can be reached at jhartsock@altoonamirror.com)