In the MLB, there is a gigantic disparity between small market teams are larger markets. It has been nearly nine years since a small market team won the World Series, and only two small markets have claimed the Commissioner's trophy since 2000. And it is getting harder and harder for small market teams to compete with big ones. So here are 5 reasons why small market teams will probably never win a World Series:
Reason 1: Less margin of error in free agent signings
Making the right free agent signings is essential to an MLB team's success, and it's the main reason why the Rangers won the 2023 World Series. But not only do small market teams have less money to spend on free agents, but they also can't afford to make a bad signing because they have so little money to spend. Take the Detroit Tigers, who signed the former golden glove shortstop, Javier Baez, to a 6-year, $140 million contract, which turned out to be a massive bust.
But since Detroit is a small-market team, this costly signing greatly handicapped the team from spending more money and delayed the end of their lengthy rebuild by another couple of years. However, teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, and Braves make stupid signings all the time, but they still have enough money that it doesn't matter. This means that small-market teams must nail nearly every signing and have excellent GMs, which some do, but most don't.
Reason 2: Modern Analytics
In the past, small market teams were sometimes able to get an edge over larger markets by using advanced analytics. The A's Moneyball scheme is a prime example of this. However, the Moneyball scheme was so publicized that big market teams started using advanced statistics, such as Statcast.
Baseball is extremely stat-driven now, and when large market teams exploit one of the few advantages of small market teams, these small markets simply stand no chance. At this point, small market teams are better off ignoring analytics altogether, with the Royals winning the 2015 World Series while being the last Statcast adopters.
Reason 3: Small Market teams can't keep star players
It's very rare for small market teams to even get close to the World Series, and while the Royals defied the odds in 2015, it came at a hefty price. Just three years after that World Series win, Kansas City found themselves in last place with over 100 losses to their name.
The Royals' winning was gone just as fast as it started because most of their homegrown stars such as Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Lorenzo Cain demanded larger contracts, and the Royals couldn't afford to keep all of them. They offered contracts to Hosmer and Cain, but were rejected. Even if small market teams build a strong roster, they can't sustain long-term success because they don't have enough money to keep their star players.
Reason 4: Big markets are even stealing GMs
Small market teams often need top-tier GMs to contend for even a short period of time. However, small market teams run into another problem because the best GMs come at a high price. Andrew Friedman, the former Rays' GM, was given endless gobs of money and a near-infinite budget to manage the Dodgers. Farhan Zaidi, Billy Beane's former right-hand man in Oakland, was also poached by the Dodgers and then Giants. If you were an MLB general manager, you would rather operate a team with way more money to spend and more money to pay you.
Reason 5: The lack of money for small markets won't be fixed anytime soon
The NFL has the system figured out, with a salary cap and shared revenue among the owners, making winning for small markets like the Packers just as difficult as big markets like the Cowboys. So why can't the MLB do the same thing? Well, the MLB can't have a salary cap because neither the owners nor the Players Association would stand for it. And the MLB's new draft lottery system for the last ten picks, makes tanking, another method of success for small markets, nearly impossible.
The Orioles are currently the best small-market team in the league, but they only got to where they are due to years of tanking for high draft picks. But with the new draft lottery system in place, tanking is no longer an option, making success for smaller markets even more strenuous from here on out.