Now that baseball's playoff field is set, I figured it's a good time to analyze which teams got the most out of the money they spent on players. It's common to assume that a high payroll leads to wins, but that's not always the case, as we will see.
Here's a ranking of teams, based on cost per win; playoff teams in bold. (Thanks to USA Today's salary database for payroll info.)
Florida Marlins: $429,676
Washington Nationals: $511,606
Pittsburgh Pirates: $566,733
Arizona Diamondbacks: $578,528
Colorado Rockies: $604,711
Cleveland Indians: $642,430
San Diego Padres: $652,928
Milwaukee Brewers: $855,259
Minnesota Twins: $904,297
Texas Rangers: $910,915
Cincinnati Reds: $957,014
Kansas City Royals: $972,702
Toronto Blue Jays: $987,263
Philadelphia Phillies: $1,004,811
Atlanta Braves: $1,039,177
Oakland Athletics: $1,044,301
Detroit Tigers: $1,081,595
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: $1,116,248
St. Louis Cardinals: $1,157,523
Chicago Cubs: $1,172,592
Houston Astros: $1,202,178
Seattle Mariners: $1,209,782
San Francisco Giants: $1,270,690
New York Mets: $1,309,451
Los Angeles Dodgers: $1,322,616
Baltimore Orioles: $1,355,867
Boston Red Sox: $1,489,856
Chicago White Sox: $1,509,331
New York Yankees: $2,017,437
Notice that of the top eight teams, three are playoff teams and two just missed out on berths. (The other three have payrolls so low that they'd top these rankings no matter what.)
