ST. LOUIS — On the diamond, the St. Louis Cardinals finished the 2020 regular season ranked among the top National League teams. But where did they rank for player cost per win?
The Cardinals ranked 13th among the 30 Major League Baseball teams in getting the most wins per player payroll in this pandemic-shortened season, according to analysis from the Cincinnati Business Courier, a sister publication of the St. Louis Business Journal.
The Cardinals paid $2.29 million per win in the shortened, 60-game MLB season, the Courier found in analyzing payroll figures compiled by sports payroll data firm Spotrac and MLB standings. The Cardinals played just 58 games instead of 60, so one win was added to the team's total to make up for the discrepancy.
The Cardinals payroll ranked in the top third among MLB teams. The Cardinals player payroll, revised for the 60-game season that was 37% of the usual 162- game schedule, totaled $71.1 million, according to Spotrac. That ranked 10th among the 30 MLB teams. The MLB average was $58.8 million per team.
The Cardinals finished in second place in the National League Central Division with a 30-28 record, earning their second consecutive trip to the postseason and the franchise’s 13th consecutive winning season. They won their first playoff game against the San Diego Padres, but lost the next two to be eliminated in the best-of-three wild-card playoff round.
Paul Goldschmidt had the highest pay of any Cardinals player this season, at $12. 1 million, adjusted for the shortened season. Goldschmidt is in the first year of a five-year, $130 million contract. He joined the Cardinals through a 2018 trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks and signed a contract extension in 2019.
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