Wild Stat on How Dodgers' Payroll Compares to Brewers, Rays and Guardians amid World Series Bracket

The Los Angeles Dodgers are Major League Baseball's second-highest-spending team, and that is even more apparent when comparing them to the other teams remaining in the MLB playoffs.

According to Talkin' Baseball, the Dodgers' $339 million payroll is higher than those of the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians combined:

The Dodgers will continue their pursuit of a third consecutive World Series title Sunday night when they go on the road for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers.

In recent years, the Dodgers have become known for handing out massive contracts to stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kyle Tucker and a host of others.

Those free-spending ways have worked in their favor thus far, as they have won back-to-back World Series and are in the NLCS for the third straight year.

However, the Brewers, Rays and Guardians are showing that there is more than one way to succeed in MLB.

Per Spotrac, Milwaukee is 19th in payroll at just over $146 million, while Tampa is 28th at $95.6 million and Cleveland is last at $74.4 million.

All of those teams knocked off higher-spending organizations in the National League and American League Division Series.

The Brewers beat the San Diego Padres (ninth in payroll), the Rays defeated the New York Yankees (third in payroll) and the Guardians took down the Chicago White Sox (24th in payroll).

Making it this far is an accomplishment for those teams given their limited resources compared to others, but whether they can end the Dodgers' run for a three-peat remains to be seen.

It starts with the Brewers, who had the best record in MLB this season at 103-59, meaning they have home-field advantage over the Dodgers for the NLCS.

The ALCS between the lowest and third-lowest-spending teams in baseball will kick off Monday when the Rays host the Guardians for Game 1.