The New York Yankees — the pinstriped enemy of so many American League teams and the owner of a record 27 World Series titles — always appear to have a leg up on the competition. With the magic wave of a checkbook, they can seemingly sign free agents that many other teams do not even consider. Each year, they spend more than their rivals, and this season aside, the results are often apparent.
It’s true that Baltimore is a small market — meaning there are fewer people in its metropolitan area than most other MLB cities. Based upon 2021 Census estimates, Charm City ranks 20th of baseball’s 26 markets. That disadvantage, however, is often exaggerated by owners, some sports economists say. Teams like the St. Louis Cardinals — who won the second most games in that time frame but play in the 21st largest market — and the New York Mets — who are in the largest market but don’t have a history of success — illustrate the weak connection between market size and wins, Berri argues. St. Louis has a smaller market size than Baltimore, for example, yet the city regularly hosts playoff games.
Of course, big cities have perks. Teams like the Yankees, Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angels Angels, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox have larger potential fan bases than the Orioles. And, what’s more, the Orioles lost a chunk of their media market when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington in 2005, much to the chagrin of Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos.