Despite having such a low payroll, the Rays have spent around 50% of their revenue on player salaries. Some of the numbers look a little low, but that is attributed to the low amount of revenue and the shared $14.5 million every team pays for player benefits.
The MLB and the MLBPA have a target of a 50% payroll/revenue ratio for each team. That is why this 2017 tweet caused some Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson worthy eyebrow-raising.
Playing with Percentages
The low amount of revenue leads to misleading percentages such as this one from 2017:
2017 Est payroll, % revenue
Tigers 73%
Os 65%
KC 59%
Mia 58%
Tex 58%
Nats 54%
Sea 53%
Tor 52%
Rox 52%
LAD 49%
StL 49%
LAAA 47%
Mets 47%
Clev 46%
Atl 46%
SFG 42%
Min 42%
Bos 41%
Hou 41%
Chi 41%
Cin 41%
As 38%
ChiSox 37%
NYY 37%
Dbacks 37%
Rays 35%
Pitt 35%
Phils 34%
Mil 25%
SD 24%As you can see, the Rays’ ratio registered at 35%, meaning their 25-man roster made up 35% of their revenue.