Bradford DoolittleOct 12, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseMLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com Been with ESPN since 2013Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsEvery contender is built a little differently. That’s certainly the case for this year’s MLB final four.We have baseball’s biggest revenue team and three clubs that have won with youth and\/or efficient spending. We have four franchises with entirely different historical contexts. There are many paths to winning in baseball; here are the ones taken by the last four teams standing in the 2026 season.How the Milwaukee Brewers were builtRoster style: Young and athletic.On the heels of a period during which the Brewers featured a power-based lineup full of strikeout-prone sluggers — remember the “jumbo infield” of the last decade? — Milwaukee began to put more emphasis on athleticism and contact hitting when it came to their position players, while encouraging situational awareness all through their system.<\/p>\n
This year’s club is the most advanced manifestation of that approach.On the pitching side, the Brewers are a mix of internally developed hurlers such as Jacob Misiorowski, Robert Gasser and Logan Henderson, along with a number of acquired pitchers. Milwaukee has had an inordinate amount of success in coaxing better results from such pitchers.Payroll power: Bottom third.Per Cot’s Contracts, the highest the Brewers have ranked in Opening Day payroll during their current 10-year run of success is 17th, back in 2019. They’ve won four straight National League Central titles while ranking no higher than 20th, where they were in 2026. Milwaukee has an avid and loyal fanbase that keeps attendance numbers strong.<\/p>\n
But for now, the non-attendance revenue potential of the Brewers is constricted by their market size.Homegrown percentage: 32%According to Fangraphs, the Brewers’ 40-man roster is 32% homegrown, ranking 20th, while the 26-man roster is at 38%, ranking 15th. The latter measure is the highest of the four remaining teams. The Brewers tend to acquire external players via trades and waiver claims as opposed to free agency.Signature signing: prospect extensionsBackup catcher Gary Sanchez is the only veteran free agent on the roster. The signings that have been more in step with the Brewers’ philosophy have been extensions, especially to some of their most talented prospects.<\/p>\n
Jackson Chourio, Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara each signed extensions prior to reaching the majors.Best trade they’ve made: Christian Yelich from Miami, 2018The Jan. 25, 2018, trade for Christian Yelich is one of the defining moments for the current era of Brewers baseball. He won NL MVP honors in his first season and finished second in the balloting the season after. Even as injuries have prevented him from maintaining that level of play, Yelich has continued as a face of the franchise. Along with injured pitcher Brandon Woodruff, Yelich has provided continuity and familiarity as the roster, manager and GM have changed over the years.<\/p>\n
And, not for nothing, the four players the Brewers sent to Miami in the deal are out of all out of the majors and finished with a combined minus-5.9 career bWAR.Biggest reclamation project success: Jake Bauers, 2026This area is a specialty of the Brewers, so a typical season would see at least a couple of examples. It’s one of the qualities that makes Milwaukee such a difficult team to project. At midseason, the easy answer here would be pitcher Kyle Harrison but because he faltered late in the season, the still-easy answer is first baseman Bauers.Never able to establish himself while bouncing around the majors, Bauers finally broke out at age 30 and in his third season for the Brewers. Before 2026, Bauers had a career OPS+ of 84 and was below replacement value (minus-1.2 bWAR).<\/p>\n
This season, Bauers had a 140 OPS+, put up 3.3 bWAR and led the Brewers with 26 home runs.Historical baggage: Overpacked.This is an esoteric way to describe the fact that the Brewers are one of five franchises never to win a title. The “mostly” part applies to the city, because Milwaukee did win a World Series in 1957 when the Braves still resided there. The Brewers have won a single pennant, but that came in the American League, so an NL flag still eludes them as well. Lots of boxes could be checked in the weeks to come.How the Los Angeles Dodgers were builtRoster style: Star power.As much as the Dodgers flex their economic might, they are also a top-to-bottom showcase for the current suite of best practices in the baseball industry.<\/p>\n
Yet, there is no denying the star power on the L.A. roster, nor the payroll commitments that have allowed this collection of All-Stars and Hall of Famers to come together.Think of it like this: According to Baseball Reference, five of the top 25 position players by career OPS+ played for the Dodgers this season. Also, five of the top 20 pitchers by career ERA+. Say what you want about depth, roster management, cutting-edge strategy — that’s a dazzling truckload of superstar ballplayers.Payroll power: Industry breaking.Isn’t this what the looming lockout is mostly about? The Dodgers top baseball’s revenue charts by a good bit, and the depressing thing about that advantage for the other 29 teams is that if the Dodgers wanted to spend even more, they probably could.<\/p>\n
Depending on where you get your numbers, you can argue that the Dodgers are only above average when it comes to the portion of their operating revenue that’s devoted to the payroll. And yeah, there are luxury tax implications for their level of spending under the current CBA, but there is also all that deferred money to players such as Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Blake Snell. You can’t blame the Dodgers for leaning in to their advantage. And you can’t blame anyone who resents it.Homegrown percentage: 34%The Dodgers rank 18th in homegrown percentage for their 40-man roster, per Fangraphs, but just five players on their 26-man postseason roster are internally developed prospects.<\/p>\n
Only the Rays have a lower count among this year’s playoff teams. L.A.’s count could rise if it tweaks its roster for the LCS, but the bottom line would remain true.While L.A. scouting-and-development successes such as Will Smith and Andy Pages play key roles on the roster, the Dodgers’ perpetually fecund farm system is used as much for depth and for trades as it is to add to the Dodgers’ star count.Signature signing: Shohei Ohtani, 2024It’s almost counterintuitive, but how could baseball’s largest revenue producer produce even more revenue? How could an ongoing 21st dynasty seemingly without end get even better? How could the Dodgers upgrade a high-powered lineup and a deep and talented rotation when the bar for marginal improvement is so high?<\/p>\n
The answer to all of these questions, and so many more, is to sign Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers, suffice to say, have not been disappointed.Best trade they’ve made: Mookie Betts, 2020Time flies, doesn’t it? Betts has now played in more seasons and games for the Dodgers than he did for the Red Sox, when he was already a champion and a superstar on a Hall of Fame track. Betts has added two more rings and three more top-five MVP finishes to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 as a Dodger.<\/p>\n
He has also made the unprecedented transition from historically great right fielder to a full-time shortstop. Who does that? Well, Betts, who has already risen to 10th on the Dodgers’ career bWAR list — one spot ahead of Roy Campanella.Biggest reclamation project success: Max Muncy, 2018A trope about the Dodgers used to be that when they’d acquire some distressed player struggling for another team, they’d “fix” him. It doesn’t seem like that’s as much of a thing anymore, if only because other teams have become adept at that practice and it has become a bona fide path to finding first-division contributors.Muncy is not just a throwback to the days when the Dodgers featured several such players — Muncy, Chris Taylor, Justin Turn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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