SI.com's Jon Heyman put together an eye-opening piece about big-market teams this year in MLB:

• The Yankees, with baseball's highest payroll at $202 million (figures used here are Opening Day payrolls adjusted for acquisitions), are baseball's best team.

• Teams with payrolls No. 4 through 8 are all playoff-bound as of right now: the No. 4 Red Sox ($127 million), No. 5 Tigers ($119 million), No. 6 Angels ($116 million), No. 7 Phillies ($115 million) and No. 8 Dodgers ($103 million).

• The only teams currently in playoff position that aren't among baseball's eight biggest spenders are the Cardinals and Rockies, who rank 13th and 18th in player payroll, respectively. The Braves, who with a $99 million payroll rank 10th, still have an outside chance to overtake the Rockies, particularly with four more games remaining against the Nationals disgrace. If the Braves do make it, it will only turn this season even further into "The Year of the Big Spender." Although the Twins, who rank a lowly 24th in spending at $68 million, still have hope of overtaking the Tigers, which would make it a slightly less lopsided payroll scoreboard.

• The only teams in the top eight of payroll that won't be in the playoffs are baseball's two most disappointing teams, the Cubs (who are second at $136 million) and the Mets (third at $135 million).

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MLB mlb playoffs, mlb payroll, new york yankees, boston red sox, chicago cubs