Since 2000, the Minnesota Twins have won their division four times (2002-2004, 2006). Knowing that the Central Division (both leagues), have generally been less extravagant in their spending than the other divisions, I wondered: Were the Twins the Yankees of the Central Division? That is, did they win because they spent, in total, more than the other teams?
This is what I learned for the time period from 2000-2007.
The order of money spent is: Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, and Kansas City Royals. The order of winning records goes as follows: Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, and Kansas City Royals.
However, some of those numbers are huge differences, so I did the math to figure out the amount of money spent per win. The Tigers have paid the highest price, at $912,835. The White Sox are right behind them, at $884,687. Then quite a leap is made as both the Indians and the Royals spent nearly $708,000 ($708,070 and $707,901, respectively). There’s another leap to the Twins, who spent $588,799. (Based on the numbers, I start to wonder if any of these teams have considered playing minimum-wage players and bribing umpires. Consider there are nine teams in other leagues who pay over one million per win, it would be interesting to find out what the price of bribing an umpire is. I’m not saying umpires are easy to bribe. I believe in their integrity. However, I’m also reminded that everything has its price.)
It’s also interesting to consider how much money fans are spending, on average, for these games. Pretending that players salaries come from the tickets sold, and that all other expenses are paid by advertising at the ballpark, concessions, and official merchandise, the White Sox fans paid $34.35 per person. Tigers fans paid $31.06; Royals fans paid $30.24, Indians fans paid $26.35, and Twins fans paid $25.80 (I paid $3.97, so I clearly didn’t pay my share).
So, to answer my question: No, the Twins were not the Yankees of the Central Division. They paid the second least in salaries for their team in their division. In the League, only two other teams paid less money than the Twins–the Royals (as previously mentioned) and the Tampa Bay {Devil} Rays. (There were four National League teams that paid less in the eight-year period, as well.) If any team was the Yankees of the Central Division, it was the White Sox, who spent the most, and are the lone team thus far to win the World Series.
(In 2001, the Kansas City Royals spent $11 million more than the Twins, actually, for the privilege of 20 less wins.)
The Timberwolves are 12-47, so they’ve lost three games since our last report. The competitions between the Timberwolves and the 11-47 Miami Heat heats up! In lacrosse, the Swarm were defeated again last weekend so they have a 6-2 record; the Philadelphia Wings are 6-1, leaving no team undefeated. Mikko Koivu still has the most fun name in the NHL, but that’s all I can really say about the Minnesota Wild.
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