Rich still getting richer

Sunday, February 3, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

Since the Yankees' dynasty ended on Nov. 4, 2001, six different teams have won the World Series in the last seven years. Twenty-one of the 30 teams have played in the postseason in this decade, including all five teams from the NL West and four of the five teams from the NL East; the NL hasn't had a repeat champion in more than a decade.

We know that Major League Baseball will never have a completely level playing field, because of industry decisions made by the owners decades ago and because the players will never accept a hard salary cap. If you're anticipating the day that the Rays post the same payroll as the Yankees and the Red Sox, well, you'll be waiting into the other side of mortality.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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