The most remarkable part of the LA Galaxy’s 5-1 win over New York City FC is that it wasn’t 10-1.

Somehow, the Galaxy went into halftime only up 1-0 thanks largely to several impressive Josh Saunders’ saves, and a well-time Jason Hernadez block. In general, it was an embarrassing performance and one that answered the question, “what would it look like if my men’s league team had one our games televised on ESPN?”

NYCFC’s performance was so bad, you at times forgot just how good the Galaxy were. The likes of Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard, Giovanni Dos Santos, and everyone less famous put on a clinic. There were acres of space for LA to exploit at will, in part due to the fact NYCFC elected to defend with five players, and also because Bruce Arena has once again figured out how to combine world class stars with blue collar workers. There are clearly defined roles every player has been given and to a man, the Galaxy have accepted them and thrived.

The Galaxy’s performance also illustrated the difficulty of building a team of superstars the right way in MLS. NYCFC will give its roster almost $18 million in guaranteed compensation in 2015, which means it is currently paying approximately $2.5 million per win and $640,000 per point. In comparison, the Galaxy owe their players almost $1.5 million more in guaranteed compensation, while paying approximately $1.5 million per win and $420,000 per point.

Neither roster is particularly cheap, but one is clearly seeing far more return on investment. A more telling set of numbers are those of Eastern Conference leader D.C. United, who is currently paying approximately $300,000 per win and $90,000 per point with guaranteed compensation coming in just a hair under $4 million for their entire roster. For their efforts, D.C. United has two fewer points than the Galaxy and are paying approximately $15 million less in guaranteed compensation.

What does it all mean? Most importantly, you can’t easily buy success in MLS. The process that went into assembling NYCFC appears to have taken that for granted. You can put together a roster built around 3-4 stars (aging or otherwise) and find success, but that success is far more contingent upon the players making $60,000 versus the players pulling $6 million. Really good to see Frank Lampard working hard for that money, by the way.

Sunday showcased the very best of MLS, and also the very worst. Fortunately, the league has enjoyed enough successes in 2015 to survive NYCFC’s failings. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for New York City’s front office.