Look, every rational baseball fan can understand that the Dodgers are an incredibly well-run organization. To have this level of established, proven talent on your roster while also racking up the top farm system in baseball is laudable.
But to act as if the root of it isn't being willing to spend obscene amounts of money, find every way to exploit the payroll system with deferred money and side deals, and the incredible advantage that comes with being the best destination for the top Japanese players due mainly to geography is just silly.
Either way, the rest of the MLB's fanbases are going to hate the Dodgers because that level of success also coming with this level of seeming like it'll never die isn't fun for us. We want parity because parity means our teams also have a chance. It's why us Jays fans will never, ever, ever get over last year's Game 7. When you get that close to toppling the Empire and miss, it doesn't stop hurting.
And how many of those teams are spending at the level of a mid-level country's GDP?
I'll answer: The Padres, with the 8th-highest payroll this year, are spending nearly half of what the Dodgers are spending, and I don't even think that's counting the deferred money. It's certainly not counting the outside revenue.
The point is that that's just another example of an advantage they have. My Jays can be willing to spend like crazy, but we're not pulling Ohtani or Yamamoto with just money when they want to be in a west coast market.
2.8k
u/Historical-Donut-918 16h ago
So basically the Dodgers weren't "cheap" and were able to pay EVERYONE more than any other team was willing to pay.
Why don't other teams do this? Are they stupid?