The New York Yankees are Major League Baseball's most

which refers to a noun that is immidiately before the ','.
so in this sentence if we use which it will refer to $250 million dollar.

so it can't be correct.

I will choose C because we are comparing the annual payroll expense of yankees with that of the 5 least expensive teams in the league combined.

btw. Go Red Sox!!!!!! Yankees s**k

I would also choose C.,

which has to agree with the subject prior to the comma, and this is clearly not the case here. B wrong reference so I would choose C.

My vote for E
"which is more than that of" should be refered to franchise!
Perhaps my reasoning is wrong

i think its either D or E...i think "which" is necessary here

(C).

In (E), NRC alongwith Prepositional Phrase is not correct.

More than that of: correct
that refers to the player payroll

C it is

C for me as well.

Which in E modifies $250 million...

OA pls!

teams are plural- therefore "those" is required.

OA is B. Darn tricky SC!

You mean more than the payrolls (those) of ........

B?
but this compares 'payroll' to 'payrolls'...is this ok?
Shouldn't we compare "a singular" with "a singular"?

The NY Yankees is compared with the 5 least expensive teams. Thus the choices that have a "which" are wrong because they compare the $250MM. Out of those left A is wrong because there is a comparison error. C is wrong because that is singular and also restrictive.

i considered that too.
but decided to go with C because i thought "that" is preferable for combined payroll of 5 teams........
i am still not sure with OA....

According to Manhattan Gmat Sentence Correction Guide page 70 - The answer B for this question is wrong.... The guide says the following sentence is wrong: Her company is outperforming those of her competitors... It explains this by saying that acc to Gmat, the 'new copy' created by the words 'that' or 'those' must agree in number with the previous version

First of all, I have never seen such construction using more than in which element under comparison are separated by comma. Therefore I am doubtful about constructions starting with more than. Second we know that comma precedes which and D and E both looks good in that aspect.

Apart from this we can apply POE and logically eliminate wrong choices.

The New York Yankees are Major League Baseball's most expensive franchise, with an annual player payroll in excess of $250 million dollars, more than the 5 least expensive teams in the league combined.

(A) more than -- comparison is illogical -- apples (player payroll) with oranges (5 teams)
(B) more than those of -- Pronoun those is not correct we can not create a copy of singular payroll to plural pronoun those for payroll -- refer MGMAT guide.
(C) more than that of -- preceded by comma -- could be a right answer with comma.
(D) which is more than -- apples with oranges.
(E) which is more than that of -- This choice follows conventional style-- comma is preceding which and clause is expressing best possible comparison.

IMO E.

You're right: The 'new copy' needs to agree in number with the previous version.

And, I initially thought the answer was going to be C. But take a closer look, specifically at the highlighted parts:

"The New York Yankees are Major League Baseball's most expensive franchise, with an annual player payroll in excess of$250 million dollars, more than the 5 least expensive teams in the league combined. "

The Yankees' payroll is a value that isn't an exact, whole value --- instead, the payroll is a value that's increasing (and we don't know to what extent ... ), meaning OVER the stated amount.
When referring to this excess value in the 2nd clause, we can't use "that." We have to use "those" when referencing the combined amount (because this too, is unspecified).

(B) more than those of --- The Correct Answer: "Those" properly identifies the "excess valuation" (since we don't know exactly how much money it is)
(C) more than that of ---- My initial Choice, until I realized that it wasn't just $250 Million dollars. The payroll is "in excess of" (meaning OVER), so the pronoun "that" is incorrect.
(D) which is more than ------- Which can't modify "dollars" --- in this case, dollars isn't a whole value, it's value that's changeable --- If it were ONLY $250 million dollars (meaning one, 'solid' value) then "which" would work.
(E) which is more than that of ------ Same reasoning for Choice D.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.