OPINION:
We’ve got the low-income World Series starting Friday between two teams that combined don’t spend as much money as the defending World Series champion did this year in hopes of winning a third straight crown.
The National League champion Milwaukee Brewers ($146.2 million, 19th in payroll spending) and the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays ($95.6 million, 28th) had a combined payroll of $241.8 million — $97.5 million less than the two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers ($339.3 million, second in the MLB).
People forget the Dodgers — the boogeyman in the labor battle between baseball owners and players — didn’t spend the most money to win. The New York Mets did, handing out $346.8 million as baseball’s top spender, only to finish in last place in the NL East with a 74-88 record.
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Owners picked a bad season to fight for a salary cap in baseball. They are going to sound foolish at the bargaining table crying about the advantage of the haves over the have-nots when the biggest have in baseball wound up a last-place team and two of the have-nots were the two best teams in baseball and will battle each other in the World Series.
The reality is that baseball shares its opportunities to play for championships more than any other major professional sport. The Brewers are the 19th team to reach the title series in the past 15 years, more than the National Hockey League’s 18 and the NBA’s 14. The NFL has had 13 different teams in the Super Bowl.
The Brewers and Rays are the best not just in the game this season, but have created a blueprint for other franchises not named the Dodgers, Mets or Yankees — one that banks on player development for franchises that don’t have the revenue of those teams.
The Washington Nationals seem to fall into that category — in part because of the mismanagement by the owners, the Lerner family. Those who live in baseball’s low-income neighborhood, though, should take note.
Could the Nationals replicate the success of the Rays and Brewers? The Rays have made the playoffs six of the past seven seasons. The Brewers have been in the postseason eight of the past nine years.
If the Nationals continue to be held back by the Lerners’ bungling, this may be the only path to returning to playing for the championships they regularly competed for from 2012 to their World Series title in 2019.
Can their new baseball operation under President Paul Toboni and manager Blake Butera match the success in Milwaukee and Tampa Bay? Based on his first year running baseball operations, Toboni may be up to the task.
Washington finished the season 77-85, an 11-game improvement over 2025’s 66-96. But they flirted around the .500 mark for a good part of the season and, after trading their best starting pitcher in Foster Griffin and one of their best bats in Luis Garcia at the trading deadline, recovered to play competitive baseball in September with an 11-11 record.
Toboni seemed to build a new organization that found success at various levels of minor league development. Butera, a rookie manager who turned 34 in August with no major league experience, never appeared overmatched or disconnected from his players.
So what happens this offseason?
All eyes are on the Lerners and whether they will spend substantially on their payroll, instead of being bottom-feeders, as they have been for six seasons. They are looking at maybe a $50 million to $75 million commitment to players for 2027 as of now, so it would seem nearly impossible for them to not spend more. How will Toboni spend it?
Planning for the 2027 season this winter will be difficult because of the uncertainty of next season facing a lockout by owners in their labor battle. Teams may be reluctant to make deals until a new labor agreement is reached and perhaps new salary expectations.
But if and when Toboni can start building his team, the needs include significant bullpen help after a year where Washington set the record for most blown saves with 42; one or two established starters in a rotation where Cade Cavalli, Andrew Alvarez and Connelly Early appear to have been penciled in; and more bats in the lineup. They’ll have to make up for Garcia’s production, and, more importantly, likely make up for the loss to one of their most productive offensive players, infielder CJ Abrams.
Abrams was one of baseball’s best offensive players this season, with 33 home runs, 106 RBI and 34 stolen bases. Given the Lerners’ reluctance to pay their best players to stay, it is a foregone conclusion he will leave at some point. If that is the case, this winter, while he still has two years left on his contract under control of whatever team he is traded to, is when he will have the most value. Toboni will have to make the most of the assets he will have to get rid of.
It’s a tightrope the Brewers and the Rays have walked for years and have done so very well.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on “The Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast.
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