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It's almost playoff season in Major League Baseball, so the annual debate over the role of money in baseball is underway. Do big-spending teams have an unfair advantage over smaller market teams?

This year, a friend on Twitter pointed out to me today, if the playoffs were to begin today, four of the bottom 10 teams in spending would make the playoffs.

That Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was right to water down the playoffs by adding another team in each league to play a one-game playoff for the right to get into the "traditional" playoff round.

At present, the #26 and the #21 spending teams -- Cleveland and Pittsburgh -- benefit from Selig's move, which raised the ire of purists. But they're not objecting in Pittsburgh, where the team had its first winning season since George H.W. Bush was president (1992).

Cleveland could still be left watching. Texas (#8) is only one game away, has a superior team, but doesn't get to play the the Twins in the final series of the year as the Indians do.

It's true the top spending team -- the Yankees -- missed the playoffs, mostly because of injuries. But #2 didn't. The Los Angeles Dodgers are West Division champions in the National League.

And in the American League, Boston (#4) and Detroit (#5) captured their divisions. So did Oakland, the 27th cheapest team in baseball.

They're the Moneyball team, a team of legend which has put together decent teams without spending much. That, Allen Barra of The Atlantic notes today, 

This year, however, is different. There really are no superstars on the team, and no team has done more with less, Barra says.

Now the team will get to challenge another reality: Moneyball doesn't win championships.

This is all important for team #23 -- the Minnesota Twins -- who are about to turn in their third straight 90-loss season.

With the departure of Justin Morneau recently, the Twins could have up to $53 million to spend in free agency over the winter, The 

 blog notes, although there's little chance general manager Terry Ryan will be allowed by the Pohlad family to spend 

MLB races show success of small market teams (not named the Twins)

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