Talking Points: Spending doesn’t always win titles

What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here is an item that will have people talking:

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Thanks to The Beatles, we all know that money can’t buy you love.

Thanks to the Brewers, Cardinals, Rangers and Tigers, we also know that money can’t buy you a place in a league championship series. Among the teams sent home with losses in AL and NL division series games Thursday and Friday were the Yankees and Phillies.

Those same Yankees and Phillies rank Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on the list of Major League Baseball team payroll for 2011. The Yankees and their $202.7 million? At home. The Phillies and their $173.0 million? Watching baseball on TV now. And so are the Red Sox, Angels, White Sox, Cubs, Mets, Giants and Twins — teams Nos. 3-9 on the payroll list.

Your AL Championship Series teams are the Tigers (No. 10, $105.7 million) and Rangers (No. 13, $93.0 million). In the NL Championship Series are the Cardinals (No. 11, $105.4 million) and Brewers (No. 17, $85.5 million).

Milwaukee, by the way, plays on with less payroll than that spent by the Mariners (No. 16, $86.5 million).

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