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In the wake of Championship No. 27, Joe Posnanski revisited an old favorite: the Yankees' money. And even though I know I'm not supposed to, I couldn't help getting a little worked up. That's just how good Joe is.

And then I came to this:

In 2003, the Yankees spent $35 million more in payroll than any other team.

In 2004, the Yankees spent $57 million more in payroll than any other team. I mean, it's ridiculous from the start but this is pure absurdity. Basically, this is like the Yankees saying: "OK, let's spend exactly as much as the second-highest payroll in baseball. OK, we're spending exactly as much. And now ... let's add the Oakland A's. No, I mean let's add their whole team, the whole payroll, add it on top and let's play some ball!"

In 2005, the Yankees spent $85 million more than any other team. Not a misprint. Eight five.

In 2006, the Yankees spent $74 million more than any other team.

In 2007, the Yankees spent $40 million more than any other team -- cutbacks, you know.

In 2008, the Yankees spent $72 million more than any other team.

In 2009, the Yankees spent $52 million more than any other team.

The Conventional Wisdom, I think, is that last winter the Yankees really broke the bank when they signed CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett. But look at those numbers! In four other seasons -- seasons in which the Yankees did not win the World Series -- the gap between the Yankees and the No. 2 team was larger than it was this year.

What's easy to forget is that even as the Yankees' payroll has expanded, other teams have been spending more money, too. And they're spending more money, why? Because they have it, thanks to ever-increasing revenues. In fact, considering the growing pie, the Yankees' payroll as a percentage of all payrolls seems to have trended downward over the last five years. This a good thing, right?

Granted, payrolls don't tell the whole story. The Yankees are probably outspending everyone else to sign amateur talent, too. And we don't yet know what the new Yankee Stadium will mean.

The takeaway from all this isn't that the Yankees can spend their way to a World Championship every year. The last eight years have taught us otherwise. The takeaway is that the Yankees can spend their way to a playoff spot every year, and with a little lucky and a bit of intelligence they'll be front-runners for the World Championship.

But we already knew that, didn't we?