Are the New York Yankees the most despised team in baseball?

With 27 World Series titles, 40 American League Pennants, 16 East Division titles, and four Wild Card berths, they have no problem winning. In addition to winning, they have no problem with the amount of money they have, and therefore spend. According to ESPN Salary/Payroll Information, the Yankees top the team salary list this year with a whopping $206,738,389 (coming in second are the Red Sox with a team salary of $160,913,333). As you can imagine, the Yankees also have some of the most highly paid individual players, as well.  Alex Rodriguez, coming in at $33 million is paid almost $15 million more than the highest paid Red Sox player. In addition to Rodriguez, Yankees C.C. Sabathia, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett are also paid large salaries.

When you put those two factors together, immense amounts of both money and winning, the general public starts to suspect things. They start to wonder if the Yankees are buying their success.

The Yankees are the type of team that doesn't play baseball the way it is meant to be played. I believe these men should have fun doing what they do as their profession every day. Maybe you win and maybe you lose but no matter what, you always have a good time. When I think of the Yankees, I think their only focus is doing everything they can to win (buy the best players), not to have fun. Yes, I believe winning is important, but if a certain team or player has too strong of an urge to win, they just seem cocky. Would the Yankees still have the same success if they didn't put in as much money but instead, formed a team of raw talent? Take, for example, the Texas Rangers, who the Yankees are facing head-to-head in the ALCS this week. The Rangers are ranked 26th out of 30 for team salaries ($55,168,114) and they only have one player that is getting paid over $million Michael Young  coming in at $13,174,974. This is not a team made of money, this is not a team made of money-driven stars, yet here they are fighting their way through the post season with just as good a chance of winning as the Yankees.

I'll be the first to admit it; I don't like the Yankees. It is not because I am a Cubs fan and we do not have the same amount of success as the Yankees do (quite often I get criticized for that). It is truly because it is a shame that the World Series Champions is a team that simply wants another ring to add it to the team’s history. That should not be the example of what the "best" team in baseball should be.