Show Me the $! End-of-Year Payrolls

On some level, it’s simple to say that each of the Big-4 sports in Northern America are different. Baseball doesn’t have a clock; the NHL uses a puck; the NBA uses a hoop; the NFL has downs. Yes, I’m being over simplistic here, but on the salary side, the distance between MLB and its other Big-4 brethren diverge further still. Baseball has a soft salary cap, but only in the loosest of terms. Baseball is also the only sport where there is a tracking of salary at the beginning on through the end of the season. In reality, it’s really the former that gets the most attention. Opening Day salaries, be it through the advent of USA Today’s salary database, or the fact that OD salary is latched onto as :”intent of spending” for an upcoming season, end-of-year salary doesn’t get the focus it’s bookended brother gets. Which, to me, is wrong. The final salaries in MLB show totals that include the 40 man roster, and shows how clubs ramp up, or shed payroll as the season progresses. It’s the fi...