The Oakland Athletics have averaged 87.25 wins per season since 1998. This average number of
wins places them 5th best in Nil-dB behind the New York Yankees (average of 96.81 wins), the
Atlanta Braves (91.94 games), the Boston Red Sox (90.69 games), and the St Louis Cardinals
(89.50 games). Exhibit 3 shows that the average rank per year of the A's total player payroll was
24th, the 7th lowest in MID! It is this combination of (a) the 5th best regular season average win-
percentage, and (b) the 7th lowest average rank on total player payroll that attracted much
attention to the baseball analytics engine room that Beane led at the Athletics.