Having the biggest, glitziest payroll in baseball is no assurance of participation in the post-season, as the New York Yankees discovered, in 2008.

Winning the most games of any team in the league during the regular season is also no guarantee that your team will get out of the first round of the playoffs, as the '08 Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Angels can attest.

So, if money does not conquer all, and winning the most games doesn't catapult you to the top, permanently, or at least through November, what does?

This is the question on the minds of every owner and general manager in the majors.

Frank and Jamie McCourt, who own the Los Angeles Dodgers, are concocting their own brew to come up with the right formula.

One thing they are deliberately not doing is emulating the Yankees in buying the best, big-name players at huge prices. They didn't seriously pursue Mark Teixeira or CC Sabathia, for whom the Yanks gladly paid plenty.

They willingly took on other teams' head cases such as bad boys Manny Ramirez and Vincente Padilla. One guy was reputed in Boston to throw slow motion tantrums, while the latter giddily threw baseballs at competing players' heads.

The McCourts scored big in acquiring manager Joe Torre, a virtual castoff from the Yankees. Torre, I think no one would disagree, did a marvelous job in '08 and is equally impressive in '09.

Ned Colletti, Dodgers GM, is an astute negotiator, acquiring Manny and others at virtually no cost in '08, and in refusing to accede to Manny's 2009 salary demands.

Equally important, Colletti and the McCourts have steadfastly supported retaining their young and developing stars, while using creativity in bringing aboard veterans that become available late in the season.

Sportswriters and fans might bleat that Dodgers management is too stingy and risk-averse.

I beg to differ. Having been burned by the large contract awarded to Andruw Jones, and having assessed the losses incurred by overpaying Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort, and others, they're simply acting prudently.

Already, the McCourts and their management team are showing remarkably good judgment, which in baseball's executive suites, is a rarity.