Braves threatening to run away with NL East with well-balanced, winning formula

Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of the game.Here’s an assignment that should be impossible in modern Major League Baseball: Construct a powerhouse roster with a top-10 payroll and nobody making $25 million per year.That salary is not unusual anymore. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, 48 players, spread across 18 teams, make at least that much annually when adjusted for present-day value. And yet none of them play for the team with the widest division lead: the Atlanta Braves.Advertisement