The Marlins have done it twice (of course Miami isnt a small market. but their fan support is equivocal) and the Rays almost did it two years ago.

Like GrantC said, the Marlins have written the blueprint…by focusing their limited funds in the right areas like scouting and young player development. The problem is, for teams like the Pirates, Indians, etc… is that they make more money by pretending that they can’t compete with the big market squads, they pocket the luxury tax and revenue sharing, rather than re-invest in the team.

…both in 1997 and 2003 by the Marlins. In ‘97, the fish “invested” in some big name players (ala the Yanks) and it paid off (ala the Yanks). But as soon as they won, the firesale of players began, and like JS13 said, it’s been all about scouting and player development ever since. There’s a reason it took the Marlins 6 years to win another title. After the firesale, a bunch of players took the field and grew together developing as a team. In fact in ‘03, A-Rod could have paid Marlins’ salaries, and still had $6 million left. Like GrantC said, they’re not a small market, but they routinely draw crowds the size of a AAA minor league team. It can definitely be done, it just takes time.