Major League Baseball got the exact matchup it wanted when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox emerged victorious in their respective League Championship Series, and the remark one executive made on Saturday night was a subtle indicator of that.
After his team defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 7 of the NLCS, Dodgers president Stan Kasten cracked a funny joke about having to face a “high-payroll team” in the World Series.
"Asking us to compete against these high-payroll teams is a little unfair, but we’ll do what we can," Dodgers president Stan Kasten said. "I’m loving that line. I’ve waited so long to use that!" (Dodgers rank 3rd in payroll, Red Sox rank 1st.)
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 21, 2018
The Red Sox have a total payroll of around $228 million this year, according to figures from Spotrac.com. At just south of $200 million, the Dodgers aren’t far behind. Kasten realizes that, hence the joke.
It goes without saying that teams with higher payrolls having bigger markets, and bigger markets mean more popularity and higher ratings. We already saw a small sample of how excited people are to see a Boston-L.A. World Series, and MLB officials are likely just as ecstatic about it.
