Rick Wilking / Reuters

It’s doubtful that any team has ever arrived at the World Series with less cachet and name recognition than the Rockies, says columnist Mike Celizic.

The team payroll is around $54 million — one of the bottom five in the game, and if you take away Helton’s $16 million, the other 24 guys are making a combined $38 million, which isn’t enough to pay the left side of the Yankee’s infield.

That’s another reason we don’t know much about them — their salaries. We live in a society that equates income with importance — what other explanation is there for the national obsession with Donald Trump and Britney Spears?

The average salary in major league baseball this year is $2.7 million. The Rockies have at least 15 players making less than that, 11 players making under a million, and 10 — including starting outfielders Hawpe and Willie Taveras and starting infielders Tulowitzki and Garrett Atkins — making $400,000 or less. That’s not even enough to buy a house in one of Denver’s pricier suburbs.

None of that should diminish what they’ve accomplished or lessen the luster of the terrific crop of kids the team’s management has assembled. In an ideal world, which is one in which people are celebrated for the accomplishments and not their bank accounts, their presence in the playoffs would swell the national television audience instead of shrinking it.

Go ahead and ignore them if you can’t be bothered to get to know who they are. Then sneer at the ratings they bring to the World Series, if that’s how you get your jollies.

But don’t turn around and whine about how the game has been ruined by all the spoiled-brat players who are making more money than third-world countries. And don’t ask what happened to innocent kids who play the game for the sheer joy of it.

They’re right in front of you. Playing in the World Series. Turn on the television and enjoy the show.

More news

Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images

Who deserves some early awards?

DeMarco: David Wright's hot bat — he's hitting .405 — makes him the pick for NL MVP thus far. But that's just for starters in our feature.

Pujols homers, Angels rally past Mariners

SEATTLE (AP) - Pinch-hitter Howie Kendrick broke a tie in the top of the ninth inning with a two-run single off Seattle closer Brandon League, and the Los Angeles Angels rallied from a 4-0 deficit for a 6-4 win over the Mariners on Friday night.

Headlines

• Label

Pirates blank Cubs for 10th straight loss

Joyce, Rays slam Red Sox  |  HBT: Benches clear

Nats handle Braves, extend NL East lead

Rangers crush Jays behind Cruz's 8 RBI

Yankees homer past Athletics, 6-3

White Sox stay hot as Dunn hits 15th HR

Stanton 1st player to hit Marlins' sculpture

HBT: Hamilton homers for first time since May 12