A New Way of Ranking MLB Teams

Every week, major sports websites such as ESPN and FOX come out with their MLB Power Rankings. The point of this is to show which teams are playing well and which teams simply are not gonna make it.

What these rankings don't take into consideration, however, is how much money each team spent on it's players.Therefore, I have devised a formula which takes each team's total payroll and divides it by the number of wins they have then multiplies it by 10 million to get the teams payroll to win ratio, or PTWR for short. The lower a team's PTWR the better because it means they are winning more games using less money.

The advantage of using the PTWR is that it prevents teams like the Yankees, who essentially buy all their talent, from unfairly dominating the rankings year in and year out.

Although some anomalies are caused by team's being so rich (Yankees) or so poor (Pirates) that their PTWR is abnormally high or low regardless of where they are in the standings, it is a good tool for determining baseball's true success stories, such as San Diego who has the best record in the NL despite having the leagues second lowest payroll, and it's true failures, such as the Chicago Cubs who can't seem to get anything done despite having the highest payroll in the NL and in all of baseball following the Yankees and Red Sox.

Note that the following numbers were calculated at the completion of yesterday's games, so the PTWR might have changed since then depending on when you are reading this. 

So, without further delay, here it is, the PTWR rankings of all 30 MLB teams.

30. Chicago Cubs

PTWR: 2.72

Payroll: $146,859,000

Wins: 54

As if a 103 year old title drought wasn't enough...

29. New York Yankees

PTWR: 2.65

Payroll: $206,333,389

Wins: 78

Despite being tied for baseball's best record, Yanks get ripped by having the highest payroll.

28. Boston Red Sox

PTWR: 2.20

Payroll: $162,747,333

Wins: 74

Like their Big Apple rivals, the BoSox are a good team whose PTWR suffered from a high payroll.

27. New York Mets

PTWR: 2.07

Payroll: $132,701,445

Wins: 64

While  they might not be quite as wealthy as their infamous neighbors, the Met's total payroll does rank fifth in the majors, and that .500 record certainly ain't helping their PTWR.

26. Philadelphia Phillies

PTWR: 2.00

Payroll: $141,927,381

Wins: 71

Despite leading the NL Wild Card, the Phils have a poor PTWR thanks to a massive payroll surpassed only by the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs.

25. Seattle Mariners

PTWR: 1.97

Payroll: $98,376,667

Wins: 50

Despite having a payroll of almost $100 million, Seattle owns the third worst record in baseball and is ahead of only Baltimore in the AL Wild Card race.

24. Detroit Tigers

PTWR: 1.92

Payroll: $122,864,929

Wins: 64

So far, the team with the highest payroll in the AL Central is in third place and posting a sub .500 record.

23. Baltimore Orioles

PTWR: 1.77

Payroll: $81,612,500

Wins: 46

O's own AL's worst record despite having an adequate payroll.

22. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

PTWR: 1.67

Payroll: $105,013,667

Wins: 63

One of eight teams with at least $100 million going towards players salaries, you would think they'd be at least a .500 team.

21. Houston Astros

PTWR: 1.59

Payroll: $92,355,500

Wins: 58

This one's really simple: above average payroll plus below average record equals a pretty bad PTWR.

20. Chicago White Sox

PTWR: 1.55

Payroll: $108,273,197

Wins: 70

AL's fourth highest payroll and sixth best record adds up to a sub par PTWR.

19. Los Angeles Dodgers

PTWR: 1.42

Payroll: $94,945,517

Wins: 67

The Dodgers relatively high payroll got them back to back division titles the past two season but has crashed in 2010 as they appear well out of the playoff race in late August.

18. San Francisco Giants

PTWR: 1.38

Payroll: $97,828,833

Wins: 71

Hmm, perhaps giving Zito $18 million a year wasn't such a good idea after all. The lefty has yet to post a winning record in San Francisco despite being the highest paid member of the team.

17. St. Louis Cardinals

PTWR: 1.36

Payroll: $93,540,753

Wins: 69

The Cards are spending over $20 million more than the Reds but trail them by four games in the division.

16. Milwaukee Brewers

PTWR: 1.35

Payroll: $81,108,279

Wins: 60

Nothing really special here. Average payroll, average record, average PTWR.

15. Kansas City Royals

PTWR: 1.34

Payroll: $72,267,710

Wins: 54

Low payroll makes up for fourth fewest wins in AL.

14. Minnesota Twins

PTWR: 1.32

Payroll: $97,559,167

Wins: 74

Twins lead their division despite having it's third highest payroll.

13. Colorado Rockies

PTWR: 1.28

Payroll: $84,227,000

Wins: 66

The Rox have managed to compete with both the Giants and Dodgers the past few seasons despite having a considerably lower payroll than each.

12. Arizona Diamondbacks

PTWR: 1.19

Payroll: $60,718,167

Wins: 51

Like the Royals, the D'Backs pathetic record is offset by it's equally anemic payroll, giving the team a pretty good PTWR.

11. Cleveland Indians

PTWR: 1.18

Payroll: $61,203,967

Wins: 52

There's no other way of putting this, the Indians are the Diamondbacks of the American League.

10. Atlanta Braves

PTWR: 1.18

Payroll: $84,423,667

Wins: 73

Like the Twins, the Braves have enjoyed stellar results with a mediocre payroll They possess the NL's eighth highest-payroll and third-best record.

9. Washington Nationals

PTWR: 1.14

Payroll: $61,425,000

Wins: 54

The Nats have maintained a low payroll while improving from "absolutely terrible" to just "bad."

8. Cincinnati Reds

PTWR: 0.98

Payroll: $72,386,544

Wins: 74

The Reds currently lead the NL Central despite their payroll being higher than only one other team (Pittsburgh) in the division.

7. Toronto Blue Jays

PTWR: 0.94

Payroll: $62,689,357

Wins: 67

The Jays may be in fourth place, but their 67-61 record is better than most people might expect for having the lowest payroll in the AL East.

6. Tampa Bay Rays

PTWR: 0.93

Payroll: $71,923,471

Wins: 78

They have the same record as the Yankees despite paying their players over 65 percent less. Coincidence? I don't think so.

5. Florida Marlins

PTWR: 0.86

Payroll: $55,641,500

Wins: 65

The Fish have played consistently above .500 this season despite being one of five teams whose payroll doesn't break $60 mil.

4. Oakland Athletics

PTWR: 0.82

Payroll: $51,654,900

Wins: 63

One of the two teams who don't deserve to be anywhere near the top half of the majors, let alone the top five, Oakland's atrocious payroll not only makes up for it's sub .500 performance this season but gives it the fourth best PTWR in the majors.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates

PTWR: 0.81

Payroll: $34,943,000

Wins: 43

The Bucs are the exact opposite of the Yanks. Instead of having baseball's number one record and payroll, they rank dead last in both categories. The PTWR ranking of these teams should hint at the fact that the payroll disparity in baseball is much greater than the record gap.

Hey Pirates fans, don't look now but your team is actually ranked higher than the Yankees in something that isn't necessarily negative.

2. Texas Rangers

PTWR: 0.76

Payroll: $55,250,545

Wins: 73

At the moment, Texas possesses the American League's fifth-highest record and second-lowest payroll. Teams like Texas prove that you don't always have t0 buy your way to the playoffs, and there is only one team in baseball that show's it more than they do.

1. San Diego Padres

PTWR: 0.50

Payroll: $37,799,300

Wins: 76

None of baseball's high rollers saw the Pads coming. If it wasn't for the jumbled mess of a team in Pittsburgh, they'd be at the bottom of the leagues wealth ladder. Yet they got hot early and never let up, eventually taking over the Braves for the best record in the National League.

Paying your players less than $40 million annually combined and winning more than a team that pays them over $150 million takes a lot of talent and demands success, as well as the top spot in baseball's PTWR rankings.

Sources

Where do you think I got all this information from?

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/salaries/teams