Cleveland 2026 team payroll : $74.5 million
MLB rank : 30th (Lowest)
Luxury-Tax Payroll : $92 million
Tampa 2026 team payroll : $95.6 million
MLB rank : 28th
Luxury-Tax Payroll : $113 million
I was born in Milwaukee the year the Braves won the World Series. The Brewers 1982 game 7 loss to the Cardinals was gutting. I was driving across west central Wisconsin on a bleak and rainy Sunday afternoon listening to their chances disappear. I have not lived in Milwaukee in 51 years, rarely go back. It’s a place of many virtues that gets little respect. It will be very sweet to see the Brewers mow down whoever is in their path. Go you Brewers, go!
“Cleveland 30th, Tampa Bay 28th”
I’m a longtime Rays fan, and a one-time Cleveland fan when they spring trained in Winter Haven in the 90s. I want the Rays in the Series of course, but the three games the teams have played have been enjoyable from a baseball lover’s perspective. It shows that a team of good players can be better than a collection of overpaid individuals, something the Rays have been doing for two decades.
But if next year is a lockout, it will be easy to find other things to do.