Over the next few days, you will read countless well-reasoned pieces on the Twins and what went wrong over the past three games. You will hear about the Yankees' postseason grit, savvy, moxie and clutch play. And you will hear about ways in which the Twins can close the gap, improve their shortcomings and maybe — just maybe — win a playoff game again this century.
All of those things will have merit and elements of truth.
But let's not kid ourselves. The main reason the Twins lost (again) to the Yankees (again) is that they're playing in a system tilted against them.
The baseball economy mirrors the U.S. economy. And the chances of achieving playoff dreams when you're the financial underdog are as lopsided as the chances of achieving the American dream under the same circumstances.
The Yankees have better players and win more often because they can afford better players. They always will as long as baseball decides not to have a salary cap that levels the playing field in terms of how much teams can spend.
The Twins don't spend as much as the Yankees because they don't generate nearly as much revenue as them.
They don't spend as much money as the Yankees for the same reason that you don't live in a house as nice as your wealthier neighbor. (And the chances are greater than ever that your wealthy neighbor's parents had more money than your parents).
The Twins' payroll in 2019, according to Spotrac, is around $124 million — No. 18 in MLB. The Yankees are only the third-highest spenders this year at $218 million, but they still spent $94 million more than the Twins.