“There’s just a lot of players that can do a little bit of everything,” said Red Sox third baseman Caleb Durbin, who spent 2025 with the Brewers. “[And] obviously, they have their stars. They don’t get enough credit just because it is a little bit of a smaller market. But guys like [left fielder Jackson] Chourio, [catcher William] Contreras, [second baseman Brice] Turang are some of the best guys at their positions in the league, and I think they don’t get enough credit or they don’t get enough attention. Obviously now they’re at a stage where you can’t really deny it.”

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Meanwhile, the Dodgers carried a payroll of approximately $433 million — roughly three times the size of their NLCS opponents. On top of that, their expected luxury tax bill is expected to land north of $180 million. In the end, it wasn’t enough.

The development underscores a reality of baseball: Payroll is an incredibly valuable team-building tool, but doesn’t guarantee titles or even success.

Former Red Sox assistant general manager Zack Scott — who now runs Four Rings Consulting and publishes a fascinating newsletter reviewing baseball decisions with which he was involved during his career as an executive — recently examined the correlation between spending and team performance across several collective bargaining agreements.

Under the soon-expiring CBA that has governed the sport since 2022, spending had a correlation coefficient of 0.31 to team wins and losses — meaning, if carving the pie of what goes into successful team building, about 31 percent of it would go to how much a team spent.

That’s a lot — and, in fact, is up from a 0.23 correlation coefficient in the prior two CBAs (2012-16, ′17-21). But the other things that go into team-building — scouting and drafting well, coaching and developing players to be their best, well-integrated analytics, culture, luck, and more — account collectively for a much larger share of the pie that determines team success.

“Just because [spending is] the strongest [single] factor, there’s still everything else making up a much stronger factor,” said Scott. “It’s still only a 33 percent [correlation coefficient]. Everything else is still bigger.”

The notion of teams simply buying championships was a disservice to the Dodgers, whose extraordinary run has been forged not only with superstar free-agent additions, but also an incredible culture and development infrastructure that has helped obscure players (including Max Muncy, Justin Wrobleski, and Andy Pages) emerge alongside acquired stars.

They are viewed as an industry-standard setter in every respect. The Mets, meanwhile, ranked second in the big leagues in spending over the just-concluded CBA. They reached the playoffs in two of five years, and rolled out a sub-.500 record over the last four years.

Meanwhile, this year’s non-Dodgers LCS field — the small-market Brewers and Guardians and the low-spending Rays — highlighted well-run organizations who aren’t daunted by competing with richer peers.

During the five-year span of the soon-expiring CBA, the Dodgers had the best winning percentage in baseball (.620). The Brewers ranked second (.581), with the Rays (.540, 8th) and Guardians (.535, 9th) also in the top 10.

The Dodgers and Phillies were the only teams to reach the playoffs in each of the last five years. The Brewers and Guardians joined the Astros, Yankees, Padres, and Braves as four-time playoff qualifiers, while the Rays reached the postseason three times.

Market size does not correlate to ambition.

“Regardless of what the economics look like, the guys in [the clubhouse] believe, and so do I,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold told reporters prior to the NLCS.

Four wins later, the strength of that belief has only been amplified.

Caleb Durbin finished his first season with the Red Sox with a .332 on-base percentage, just 2 points lower than his number from last season with the Brewers (.334).Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

TAKING STOCK

Durbin has ‘more in the tank’

Given that he’d made it to spring training camp with the Brewers in February before being traded to the Red Sox, Durbin called seeing his former team reach the World Series “a little bit bittersweet. It’d be more bitter if I wasn’t super happy with where I was. I’m excited about being a part of the Red Sox and excited for our future to get to that point sooner rather than later.

“This year just wasn’t our year, so it’s tough watching any team celebrate. But I honestly think [seeing the Brewers in the World Series] makes it a little easier for me personally, just because those are my buddies.”

In his first year with the Sox following a six-player spring training deal (Durbin, Anthony Seigler, and Andruw Monasterio for Kyle Harrison, Shane Drohan, and David Hamilton), Durbin posted numbers (.248/.332/.378) that were nearly identical to his rookie performance for the Brewers in 2025 (.256/.334/.387).

But given that his Sox tenure started with a horrific two-month slump from which he emerged to become a key contributor — all while adjusting to a new organization, teammates, coaches, and city — the 26-year-old viewed 2026 as a promising building block.

“It is funny how the [offensive] numbers ended up being very similar,” said Durbin. “I’d like to think the stretch I had in the beginning of the year is kind of an anomaly. … If you take that out, I do feel like I had a better season [than 2025].”

Durbin is in the Chicago area for the offseason after undergoing surgery last week to reconstruct the joint in his left pinkie finger.

“It wasn’t straight, and I knew I preferred it to be straight,” he chuckled. “It’s straighter now. So that’s a good thing.”

He downplayed the role that the bent digit (initially injured in June, aggravated in August) played in a power downturn over the final weeks of 2026, noting that it felt progressively better and remained manageable down the stretch. He expects his recovery to conclude in time for his normal offseason hitting and training program.

“There’s more in the tank,” said Durbin — who expressed excitement about being nominated as a Gold Glove finalist at third base. “There’s more that I feel like I’m capable of, and the last couple weeks, that’s what I’ve been trying to process.”

Other Red Sox notes:

⋅ This postseason has showcased the emerging superstardom of Brewers outfielder Chourio — bringing to light a skill set Sox assistant GM Mike Groopman glimpsed years ago.

Groopman was the Brewers’ director of international scouting from 2017-21, overseeing the department when Chourio was scouted and ultimately signed. Groopman credited Brewers scouts Fernando Veracierto (a Sox minor leaguer in the early 2000s who later became an international scout for the club before joining the Brewers), Reinaldo Hidalgo, and Luis Pérez for leading the process in Venezuela that ultimately resulted in the signing of Chourio.

As an amateur, Chourio was a skinny teenager who nonetheless showed explosive athleticism and traits, including a precocious ability to drive the ball to all fields.

“His speed, twitch, and power in particular — things that usually manifest more with more significant strength and physicality — were very advanced,” recalled Groopman.

But Chourio was more than just loud, projectable tools. After the Brewers signed him for $1.8 million in 2021, Groopman got a window into his drive to improve in one of his first confrontations with a high-velocity machine at the team’s academy.

“He at first took a couple of bad hacks,” said Groopman. “You could tell the competitor in him was just getting a little frustrated, and then he made a very quick adjustment and was just hitting hard line drives and driving balls everywhere very quickly off of it.”

That early determination to handle velocity has manifested in spectacular fashion in the postseason, including when Chourio drilled a 101 mile-per-hour fastball from Padres closer Mason Miller for a walkoff two-run single in the NL Division Series and his leadoff opposite-field homer off a 98 m.p.h. Blake Snell fastball in the NLCS. Those moments served as reminders of the franchise-changing impact of international scouting.

“It’s just a really special thing to reflect on [his development] and a credit to a lot of people that had the opportunity to help him along his journey,” said Groopman, who has been with the Sox for five years.

⋅ Prospect Justin Gonzales will play for the Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League. While the Sox typically encourage top prospects to use the offseason to build size and strength rather than play winter ball, that is less of a concern for Gonzales, who measured 6 feet 6 inches and 277 pounds entering the year. David Ortiz described greeting the 19-year-old as comparable to hugging a refrigerator. Gonzales hit .266/.385/.449 with 19 homers in 107 games with High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland this year.

⋅ The Braves’ Chris Sale and his family recently took in a Celtics preseason game in Boston. The former Sox southpaw — who went 14-9 with a 2.16 ERA and 200 strikeouts this year — kept his residence in the area, and his family still enjoys spending time in New England during the offseason.

⋅ Sox prospect Carson Cason, the two-way player drafted out of high school in 2024 and signed for a $1.25 million bonus, is healthy and taking part in the team’s offseason training program in Fort Myers, Fla. In two pro seasons, Cason has been limited by injuries (Tommy John surgery in 2025, hamstring and flexor strains in 2026) to five games as a DH and one inning on the mound. His future role has not yet been decided, but he seems likely to continue developing as a position player — either exclusively, or in tandem with pitching.

⋅ Janet Marie Smith was named recipient of the Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award by SABR’s women in baseball committee. Her industry-changing architectural credits include the design of Camden Yards in Baltimore, numerous renovations at Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium, and the design of Polar Park in Worcester.

Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers were swept by the Brewers in the NLDS this season, ending their streak of World Series titles at two.Ashley Landis/AP Photo/Ashley Landis

ETC.

Are the Dodgers in danger?

The Dodgers confronted questions in the wake of the sweep about whether their dynasty is nearing a precipitous drop-off as their lineup continues to age, with high-priced thirty-somethings — Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Muncy, and more — at the majority of their positions.

The image of a broken Shohei Ohtani during the playoffs seemed ominous, as was the uncertainty expressed by the superstar after the Dodgers’ season ended. While Ohtani made clear that he plans to continue his career as a two-way player, he also told reporters that he wasn’t sure if he’d require surgery to address either the biceps or knee injuries that clearly impaired him from mid-August through the end of the year.

Even so, it’s premature to forecast a demise for Ohtani or Los Angeles, whose long run atop the sport reflects a nimble organization that has repeatedly found ways to reshape its roster. Moreover, the team still possesses a loaded farm system — headlined by outfielder Josue De Paula, ranked the No. 4 overall prospect in the sport by Baseball America, the 21-year-old seen as a potential star — with a number of players seemingly ready or near-ready to contribute in the big leagues.

There is one looming X-factor — a federal investigation into accusations of insurance fraud and self-dealing by team owner Mark Walter. But barring a chaos-inducing development in that investigation and until proven otherwise, Los Angeles remains the same powerhouse that was widely viewed as a threat to win a third straight World Series until the Brewers rolled out the barrel and flattened them.

The fact that the Dodgers’ loss in an LCS felt stunning is itself testimony to the greatness of the team’s last decade. With three titles, five pennants, 17 postseason series victories, and a staggering .627 winning percentage over 10 years, the Dodgers have a compelling case as the greatest dynasty in NL history.

The Phillies face a momentous offseason. The team finally removed the “interim” tag from manager Don Mattingly, signing him to a two-year deal. But the managerial question was just one of several looming over a lineup that has its own aging core but without the Dodgers-caliber farm system to reinforce it.

Perhaps most notable from the Phillies’ post-mortem, following the team’s postseason exit in the Wild Card round: President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told Trea Turner that he needs to improve defensively or else he’ll be moved off of shortstop.

The 33-year-old had the worst year of his career (.242/.297/.378) in 2026 while grading as nine runs below average at short, per Statcast’s fielding run value metric. He’s four years into an 11-year, $300 million deal signed after the 2022 season.

Elsewhere in the NL East, the Mets, according to The Athletic, plan to expand their pro scouting staff this offseason, with the possibility of increasing their in-person looks at players. While several teams have become increasingly reliant on video scouting, the success of the Rays and Dodgers — both of whom feature robust pro scouting staffs and believe strongly in the value of in-person looks at players — could prompt some reassessment.

Brewers play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Levering struck a pitch perfect note connecting past and present with his radio call of the final out of the NLCS: “The Brewers win the pennant! Oh my God, the Brewers win the pennant!” Levering, of course, was paying joyful tribute to former Brewers broadcast partner Bob Uecker with his radio call of the final out of the NLCS, riffing on Uecker’s call as broadcaster Harry Doyle in the film “Major League,” when the success-starved Cleveland franchise won the division. Levering has been with the Brewers since 2015, after spending 2013-14 with the Pawtucket Red Sox — a run that included a memorable International League playoff series against Durham in 2014. “Slightly different than the Governor’s Cup and Rusney Castillo’s go-ahead RBI single!” Levering texted after watching the Brewers win the NLCS. Josh Maurer, who called PawSox and Worcester Red Sox games from 2014-21, is also part of the Brewers radio broadcast. They are among the 11 (!) former PawSox and WooSox broadcasters currently calling MLB games … Feliz cumpleaños, Alex Cora. The two-time Red Sox World Series champion, who recently interrupted life at home in Puerto Rico to run in the Chicago Marathon in just under 4½ hours, turns 51 on Sunday … And happy birthday to Jeff McNeely, 57. A top outfield prospect in the Sox organization in the early 1990s, McNeely hit .297/.409/.378 with six steals in a 21-game cup of coffee in 1993, but never returned to the big leagues. After his playing career, he worked in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) school system and also started a travel ball program, which he still runs.

Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.