Yankees' Bank Finally Defeats the System

Yes, writing about the New York Yankees’ ginormous payroll is “like writing about the heat in Phoenix. We all know it’s there, and we don’t really want to talk about it anymore,” Joe Ponanski says in what he admits is a “screed.” And though baseball’s playoffs are designed to add volatility, when you can spend $52 million more than the next-biggest spender, you’re eventually going to buy a(nother) World Series.

“That team that spent $50 million more than any other team, that team with three sure Hall of Famers and as many as four others, that team that bought Milwaukee’s best pitcher and Anaheim’s best hitter and Toronto’s No. 2 starter and Boston’s favorite Idiot and the most expensive player in the history of baseball and so on,” the SI.com columnist adds in his personal blog. “And then, if you are a not a Yankees fan, you will want to throw up. If you are not a Yankees fan, you are left hoping that next year the randomness of a short playoff series will get the Yankees and allow some other team to win so we can celebrate the hope of Opening Day. And that’s baseball.” (More New York Yankees stories.)