Rooting against the underdog

It’s pretty hard not to like the Minnesota Twins, but I don’t like ’em.

They’re the underdog, the little engine that could — the very kind of team that people love to love. Despite having the 24th-highest payroll in baseball, they made the playoffs. The Twins have made it that far four times in the past seven years. They play the game right. They’ve got good young players and big bright stars of the future. But I still don’t like ’em. 

I’m not a fan because instead of being viewed as the exception that proves the rule — the rule that states money is power in Major League Baseball — the Twins are held up as the shining example that money doesn’t guarantee success. It’s the rule favored by fans of the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels and Dodgers, among others. Fans love to root for a team with an unfair advantage, but they don’t want to have to admit that advantage exists. It takes a little bit of the fun out of it when you’re forced to acknowledge your team isn’t better than every other team, or that your team’s executives aren’t smarter than other executives, but that your team is merely richer than other teams, and that’s why it is so successful.

But the Twins now make it easy for fans of the wealthy to enjoy beating up on the poor. The Rays did it last year. The Oakland A’s were the annual exception until they were swallowed by the rule and haven’t made the playoffs since 2003. And on the flip side, the Mets and Cubs help the argument that money isn’t that important, because they spend plenty and still can’t win. (I don’t like them, either.)

While it’s true the Mets, Cubs, Tigers and Astros all missed the playoffs after ranking near the top in payroll, it’s equally true that five of this year’s eight playoff teams are in the top nine on the payscale. So even if money is no guarantee, it sure tips the scale.

That isn’t just obvious, it’s disappointing. It means that teams like Kansas City, Baltimore, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Washington probably won’t get a sniff of the postseason for another decade, at least.

Of course, if those teams could just run as efficiently as the Twins, they would make the playoffs every other year or so. But Minnesota proved something else this year: Even that doesn’t mean squat. They still got beaten up by a richer team.

– Bob Halloran is a sports anchor, reporter and author. He can be reached at sports@metro.us.