As Baseball Considers Its Future, Parity Isn’t the Problem

Payroll disparity can make the sport seem unfair, but M.L.B. has had 14 different teams win championships since 2000 — more than the other major American men’s sports.

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HOUSTON — A general manager’s job is to build World Series teams. Yet as he sat in the Atlanta Braves’ dugout on Monday night, with his players on that stage as they prepared for the Houston Astros, Alex Anthopoulos made a confession: His path here was a mystery.

“I wish I knew,” said Anthopoulos, Atlanta’s general manager. “I’ve been in baseball since 2000, with 10 years as a G.M., and I don’t know how you get to a World Series, I really don’t. You’ve got to get in. Get in and hopefully guys step up.”