Baseball Team Payrolls for 2009, and who's in the playoffs

Here's a link to a handy table of MLB 2009 opening-day team payrolls.  And here is the data:  (The first number is total salary, the second is average per player)

Yankees	$201,449,289	$7,748,050
Mets	$135,773,988	$4,849,071
Cubs	$135,050,000	$5,402,000
Red Sox	$122,696,000	$4,089,867
Tigers	$115,085,145	$4,110,184
Angels	$113,709,000	$4,061,036
Phillies	$113,004,048	$4,185,335
Astros	$102,996,415	$3,814,682
Dodgers	$100,458,101	$4,018,324
Mariners	$98,904,167	$3,532,292
Braves	$96,726,167	$3,335,385
White Sox	$96,068,500	$3,694,942
Cardinals	$88,528,411	$3,278,830
Giants	$82,161,450	$3,043,017
Indians	$81,625,567	$3,023,169
Blue Jays	$80,993,657	$2,892,631
Brewers	$79,857,502	$3,194,300
Rockies	$75,201,000	$2,785,222
D-backs	$73,571,667	$2,724,877
Reds	$70,968,500	$2,957,021
Royals	$70,908,333	$2,727,244
Rangers	$68,646,023	$2,367,104
Orioles	$67,101,667	$2,580,833
Twins	$65,299,267	$2,251,699
Rays	$63,313,035	$2,183,208
Athletics	$62,310,000	$2,225,357
Nationals	$59,328,000	$2,045,793
Pirates	$48,743,000	$1,874,731
Padres	$42,796,700	$1,528,454
Marlins	$36,814,000	$1,314,786

I highlighted in bold all the teams that will make the playoffs.  (Note - Twins vs. Tigers are still competing for a playoff spot at this time).  Other than the Rockies and possibly the Twins, all the playoff teams are in the upper half of payroll.  Hardly a surprise.  Thanks to the incompetent Mets and Cubs, many will say "but this shows you can't buy your way into the post-season".  True.  A large payroll is does not guarantee entrance to the playoffs.  But it is still required.  In other words, a small payroll pretty much guarantees failure.

I could correlate payroll with wins, but no need, somebody has already done that.  Here's a nice chart based on data from 2006-2008.  It shows a clear correlation between wins and payroll.  Teams significantly below the line are more "efficient", in that they get more wins per dollar.  As you'd expect, the As, Twins, Marlins and Rays are there. 

Anyway, this proves that money  largely buys success in MLB.   With exceptions to "prove the rule", a payroll of roughly $90 Million looks like the minimum to get to the playoffs.  Note that the three teams that missed the playoffs but were "in the race" in September were the Giants, Braves, and Rangers, whose average payroll is about $82 Million.  This is another data point - looks like to be "playing meaningful games" in September requires about $80 Million.

Not sure how to fix this.  Some owners are just plain cheap.  Part of me admires the Steinbrenners for their willingness to spend money to win.  But most of me hates them.