John Donovan gives a good rundown on the impact of a team's economics on making the playoffs. I'm tired of sportswriters tripping all over the anomalous success of Oakland or failure of the Cubs and ignoring the dominant pattern.

Edited to add: it's toward the end of his mailbag that he discusses this

Money isn't everything. Contractual incentives aren't everything. Hard work isn't everything. Team tradition can be critical. Luck is a factor. And, spring training can be critical.