ESPN has ranked the Pirates baseball's best franchise and the eighth-best franchise in the four major North American pro sports leagues. (They're behind the San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers and Oklahoma City Thunder, in case you were wondering.) The rankings are based on fan surveys and on a metric based on how efficiently teams turn money into wins.
In the accompanying article, Jayson Stark notes that the Pirates still have low payrolls, but are very clever about the players they pursue. "In the end, while many teams might outspend the Pirates, no one outthinks them," Stark writes.