This World Series is an overview of the Yankees' luxury tax solutions

BOSTON – Flex or scrounge. Muscle for today, keeps for tomorrow.

The Yankees could have continued their usual run this season. They are, after all, the only team to have paid the luxury tax each year since the system was installed in 2003, at a cost of about $ 341 million. For 2018, let's call this path the path of the Red Sox.

Or the Yankees might have thought it was possible to have their financial cake and eat it as well by winning the championship title this season while crossing the line for long-term rewards. For 2018, let's call this model the Dodger model.

The Yankees – like their twin behemoth NL in Los Angeles – sank under the $ 197 million floor. The problem is that the Yankees are in the AHL, where the Red Sox have been in a way that looks most like Steinbrenner, producing a list that outperforms the Yanks in the AL East and Division series.

"The [luxury-tax] threshold is a guide for us, "said Red Sox President Sam Kennedy. "We are aware of it and aware of the penalties. But we do not have a strict rule about it. "

Boston has crossed the threshold of most of the last ten years. The Red Sox were underperforming in 2017. This allowed them to bring the penalties down to the lowest levels for 2018, when they knew they would be out of date. The Red Sox then decided to really get started, especially with the signing of JD Martinez, but also with other additions that would lead them beyond the following two levels of penalties, which raise the tax to 217 and $ 237 million.

That will cost about $ 11 million in taxes this year, 10 fewer places in the first round of the 2019 project and higher taxes next season, as Boston officials know the payroll will rise beyond first threshold, which in 2019 will be $ 206 million. Kennedy said the Red Sox did not skip over the threshold because they knew the Yankees would be zigging below.

"The mandate since [John Henry and Tom Werner] bought the team since 2002 is being competitive on the field and playing baseball every year in October, "said Kennedy. "It's a difficult goal to achieve, but under this property we've done it eight or nine times (actually 10 in 17 years) and won three titles."

The Red Sox now have a chance to get a fourth title in this period. The Yankees have won just one title in this period by qualifying 13 times for the playoffs in 17 years. The Dodgers have not won everything since 1988, but are the only team to reach each of the last six postsecondaries.

Los Angeles has had the highest tax bill of the past four seasons and has exceeded the previous five, paying about $ 150 million in taxes during this period. The financial heavyweights of the game were able to make important additions – the Yankees with Giancarlo Stanton during the offseason, the Dodgers with Manny Machado in July – and the shoehorn under the threshold. The Yanks had no obvious player at their disposal, which they had not acquired this year for financial reasons.

New York and Los Angeles – like Boston this season – will fall to the lowest penalties the next time they step over the bar. The Yankees have been working on this goal for years. Hal Steinbrenner insisted that the team could win without running more than 200 million dollars in salaries. The Yankees have not definitively announced they would return to next season. The Dodgers did not have to overcome a heavyweight like the Red Sox in their division. The only other team to surpass the $ 197 million mark was the Nationals, who missed the playoffs as arguably the most disappointing club of the majors.

"Each team is always balancing needs in the short term while keeping long-term expenses in mind," said Dodgers General Manager Farhan Zaidi. "A lot of [going under in 2018] was driven by where our list was to. We did not have big needs [to have to fix in free agency]. "