The players from the Seattle team received larger contracts

I like B the most.

B is the only answer that refers to the players.

E should be the correct answer.. the element to be compared are contracts received by x and other teams

E here....'contracts' compared correctly with 'those received by other teams'
A and B ruled of because of incorrect comparison
C changes meaning of the sentence
D is less direct compared to E

In A and B, the contracts received by the Seattle's team are compared to the "other team" instead of their contracts.

C is wrong because it says the teams are offering contracts, as opposed to receiving contacts.
D is ruled out because of obvious grammatical mistakes. ('is' and 'teams' (plural) don't go hand in hand)

E Should be right.

Ah.. what a simple mistake I made.

I change my mind. I agree with E now.

Hi everybody!

I appreciate your disputes.
The OA is E

Kudos pls.!

i don't get how it can be E. That oh so sacred GMAT idol of parallelism is totally violated here...

"players" from the Seattle team received <----> other team received (not the players) ---- the receiving entity (player vs. team) is not parallel in option E. There are many questions where the right answer will depend on this kind of minute detail.

In option C, just because "offered" is used, how can one conclude that the meaning has been altered? A team will offer a contract to its players... The players from the Seattle team received larger contracts [from the Seattle team -- who else?] than those offered by other teams their players... this makes the most logical sense to me.

If you literally interpret stuff and stick close to the meaning and look out for parallelism etc.. then even E is not parallel. The receiving entities (players vs. team) are not the same.. you have to make a short leap of logic to say ok if you give to the team then its like giving to the players... in the same manner you can look at C -- just coz offered is used doesn't automatically mean the meaning has changed; you have to look at the context...

anyway, i am done with my rant -- back to my books now.

The players from the Seattle team received larger contracts than the other team.

(A) than the other team.
(B) than the other team’s.
(C) than those that are offered by other teams.
(D) than those that is received by other teams.
(E) than those received by the other team.

In the original sentence compared parts are bolded. So read: the players .....received ....than other team. Although such comparison may exist, it is better to avoid such comparisons, making sentence to sound illogically.
B is out because it does not clearly states to what the comparison does refer.
C, D are out because comparison must be made team to team rather than team to teams.

E is the best answer.

I completely agree with you. This is the kind of question that will make one lose confidence in everything that one has studied.