The Los Angeles Dodgers finally got over the hump and won the Fall Classic in a huge mismatch against the New York Yankees. The Dodgers were dominant all year, winning 98 league-leading games and fighting their way past the Padres and Mets to get to the World Series against a Yankee team that imploded in Game 5. This redeemed the Dodgers after years of million-dollar disasters; finding a way to somehow get swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023, and getting owned by their rival the San Diego Padres just a year prior. The list of laughably terrible collapses in the past for LA is long. Disregarding the often discredited 2020 shortened season win, it was their first 162-game season World Championship since 1987. Whether MLB fans like it or not, the Dodgers aren’t going anywhere for a long time. It’s not because of their homegrown talent or years of hardship or anything other than money. The Dodgers spend and spend and spend and it is beginning to hurt the game of baseball, and the MLB could care less.
If there was one thing that all fans of the 29 teams not named the Dodgers can agree on it’s that LA is ruining the game of baseball. From what was once a respectable organization, they have abandoned the traditional practice of homegrown talent in baseball and are simply taking all talent from the FA (Free Agency) market. They haven’t missed the postseason since 2012-and through that time they’ve only won a single real world series ring. Baseball was meant to be played in 162, and the late season turnarounds of teams like the 24’ Tigers or the 22’ Phillies are non-existent in a COVID shortened 60 game schedule. Regardless, the last respectable move LA has made was trading Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, and INF Prospect Jeter Downs to the Red Sox for Mookie Betts and David Price in the biggest fleece in recent sports history and it was the last time LA made a move that didn’t cause controversy with fans of every team (Just Red Sox Fans). Since then, seemingly every move has caused baseball fans to implore MLB to add a salary cap. These requests however, did not begin with the Dodgers and their big spending.
In November of 2020, Billionaire Hedge Funder Steve Cohen purchased the New York Mets for a whopping 2.4 Billion dollars, freeing Mets fans from years of despair at the hands of the penny-pinching Wilpon Family who seemingly loved to let great talent slip away. Cohen made some big moves following his purchase, including trading for Francisco Lindor and signing him to a ten-year contract. Aside from the massive trade, Cohen acquired OF Mark Cahna, INF Eduardo Escobar, OF Starling Marte, and RHP Max Scherzer all in one offseason. Rob Manfred, commissioner of Major League Baseball, believed this was too much money and an unfair advantage and ended up raising the threshold of the luxury tax, causing a new rule dubbed “The Cohen Tax”. The whole rule was aimed at slowing down big spenders – big spenders like LA.
Since then, Cohen has signed OF Juan Soto to the biggest deal in sports history all while keeping his payroll lower than the disappointing 2023 season, in which it was 341 million dollars. While Cohen’s spending was apparently “Too much”, Rob Manfred has no problem with the Dodgers dishing out billions of dollars to multiple different players in the course of one offseason. According to Rob Manfred, signing Eduardo Escobar, two decent outfielders, and a 39-year-old SP are grounds for a new rule to prevent too much big spending, but giving one billion dollars (and deferring most of it) to two players is acceptable. This year, Los Angeles has already spent 287 million dollars, which is the second most behind the New York Mets. While the Mets spending is comparable to the Dodgers, the difference is the tactic in which the Dodgers have used. They have deferred multiple contracts this offseason as well as last offseason, and are only paying Shohei Ohtani 2 million dollars per year, and will start paying him 68 million dollars per year when his contract expires in 2034, unlike Steve Cohen who deferred 0 Dollars of Juan Soto’s 15 year 765 Million dollar contract and already made the money back.
All of that aside, you may be asking “Well if LA can defer contracts, why can’t everybody else?” This is simply due to the fact that small market teams have no idea if they will be able to afford these deferrals for years to come. LA knows they play in the second best market in sports and will be able to afford to pay Ohtani. A ban or atleast a strict cap on the amount of deferred money would level this field greatly, and a salary cap would only allow small market teams to have more of a shot at contending with the bigger markets. Look at the NFL, Detroit, Minnesota, Denver, and Washington are all “Small Markets” that have been able to contend with big market teams both during free agency and in the season.
The Dodgers’ approach to acquiring talent is ruining the game for small-market teams. The Toronto Blue Jays haven’t been able to lure in any big free agents due to the Dodger’s ability to defer contracts and sign whoever they want. LA being able to buy their rings while teams like the Nationals, Brewers, Orioles, and other small market teams stacked with talent have to actually develop players and draft properly like a baseball team should. Rob Manfred’s refusal to even consider a salary cap to instead focus on “golden at bats” and other rules not one person wants has allowed LA to destroy the hopes of any small market team trying to bring in some solid talent to pair with their homegrown players in whom they have worked hard to develop (something LA will never relate too). The unlimited deferrals and the unlimited amount of spending are ruining the game of baseball. As for now, It seems like Rob Manfred is okay with that, as long as the bases are bigger and games are shorter, everything is fine.
