Rob Neyer notes the Rangers reached the post season with a relatively low payroll:

In fact, one of the untold stories of this season is the Rangers’ relatively small payroll. Those cash-poor Tampa Bay Rays? Their payroll was larger than the Rangers’ this season. Those plucky small-market Cincinnati Reds? Larger payroll than the Rangers’. The Giants and the Braves and the Twins and the Phillies all spent substantially more than the Rangers. And the Yankees … well, you know about them.

The key to the Rangers’ transformation isn’t that they’re spending more money on pitching. The key is that with essentially just one exception (Harden), what money they have spent on pitching, they’ve spent well.

The nice thing for the Rangers is that with new ownership and a new TV contract, they should be able to increase payroll and keep this team together.