We're #1! (In 2013 Payroll)

Forget all that talk about the new-look Dodgers being the Yankees. Rather, at this stage, they're trying to be us

"Baseball's opening-day payrolls will exceed $3 billion for the first time this season, jumping more than 7 percent from last season and redistributing the windfall from landmark local television deals across the sport, according to a Yahoo! Sports analysis.

Using Baseball Prospectus' contract database, arbitration projections from MLB Trade Rumors and expected salaries for the remaining free agents likely to garner major-league contracts, Y! Sports estimates opening-day payrolls of teams' 25-man rosters will total about $3.15 billion, a 7.1-percent increase from last year's opening-day figure of $2.94 billion.

More than half of the increase comes from the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose projected $213 million payroll is the highest in the major leagues – and a 123.9-percent increase over their $95.1 million from opening day in 2012. The Dodgers signed the richest free-agent deal of the offseason, giving starter Zack Greinke a six-year, $147 million deal.

The Miami Marlins, on the other hand, have shed nearly three times as much as any other team, going from a $118 million opening-day payroll last season to an estimated $45 million this year, a 61.9 percent decrease.

Despite promises to get beneath the luxury tax threshold of $189 million before the 2014 season, the New York Yankees are projected to spend more at the start of this year than last. Their estimated $210 million payroll is more than $12 million ahead of 2012's and second to the Dodgers'. The two are in their own payroll stratosphere, far ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies ($158 million), Los Angeles Angels ($152 million) and Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers ($150 million).

I know that money doesn't necessarily bring championships. But it certainly can't hurt our chances, either. Keep it up, Stan!