Unlikely World Series

With the final out of Spring Training recorded in late March, 30 teams set their eyes on the season ahead. They all envisioned playing in October and winning the World Series. While all 30 teams believed that they were in fact going to win it all, we all sat back and made our own predictions on who was going to end up on top. The Red Sox looked to be the favorites coming out of the American League after adding Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford in the off season. The Phillies looked scary in the National League as well with a pitching staff comprised of four potential aces which was rounded out by having one of the greatest pitchers in the game in Roy Halladay as the number one starter.
But if I were to tell you that in March that the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers were going to play each other in the World Series, you would think I was crazy. Not even I saw these two teams playing; I had the Tigers and Brewers which just goes to show what I know. These two teams have shown both baseball and the world that money alone will not buy a championship. In relationship to the other 28 teams in the league, the Cardinals have the 11th highest payroll at $105,433,572 and the Rangers at the 13th spot at $92,299,265 and yet they made it to the World Series. These two teams develop players well and do not overpay for high priced names in free agency. Most people can name about 6 or 7 Yankees but fail to name 3 or 4 Cardinals or Rangers. Teams need to look at this and realize that it is not about having the big name free agents taking up half of your payroll every year, but its about having a team made up of homegrown talent that works well together.
List of 2011 Opening Day Payrolls (bold teams made playoffs this year)

N.Y. Yankees 201,689,030
Philadelphia 172,976,381
Boston 161,407,476
Los Angeles Angels 138,998,524
Chicago White Sox 129,285,539
Chicago Cubs 125,480,664
New York Mets 120,147,310
San Francisco 118,216,333
Minnesota 112,737,000
Detroit 105,705,232
St. Louis 105,433,572
Los Angeles Dodgers 103,788,990
Texas 92,299,265
Colorado 87,998,071
Atlanta 87,003,192
Seattle 86,424,600
Milwaukee 85,497,333
Baltimore 85,304,038
Cincinnati 76,181,365
Houston 70,694,000
Oakland 66,536,500
Washington 63,681,929
Toronto 62,517,800
Florida 56,944,000
Arizona 53,639,833
Cleveland 49,188,867
Pittsburgh 46,047,000
San Diego 45,869,140
Tampa Bay 41,932,171
Kansas City 36,126,400

Josh Butler KIN 332I Sec 3