Why the Dodgers' big spending isn't bad - and won't guarantee another title
Yahoo Sports national MLB insider Russell Dorsey looks at the defending champion's outlook for 2025 following an offseason that included some massive spending and a lot of big names making the move to Los Angeles.
Video Transcript
The Los Angeles Dodgers and their big time spending this offseason was one of the biggest stories in all of Major League Baseball this winter.
The Dodgers brought free agents, Blake Snell, Haison Kim, Rokki Sasaki, Tanner Scott, Michael Confordo, and Kirby Yates to LA.
They also resigned players like KK Hernandez, Teyaka Hernandez, and Clayton Kershaw.
But the Dodgers' big time spending posed the question all offseason.
Are the Dodgers good or bad for baseball?
The reality is that it's a resounding no, they're not bad for baseball because this is something we've seen before.
The Dodgers aren't the first team to spend at the top of the market.
Sure, as time goes on, the numbers change as they approach the $400 million threshold in payroll.
But if you look at history, the Yankees of years past, the Phillies, what the Padres have done in recent years, teams have spent at the top of the market.
Yes, they were able to sign a player like Shohe Otani and add multiple $300 million dollar contracts.
And even if teams say that they can't do that.
If you put all the Dodgers moves together, yes, it feels overwhelming, but there are 29 other teams that could make those moves and sign those free agents.
The other reason we might need to pump the brakes on the Dodgers being the 2025 World Series champion already is that there is no sport with more parity than Major League Baseball.
There hasn't been a repeat World Series champion since the Yankees did it in the year 2000.
And at the end of the day, baseball is still baseball.
You still have to play 162, followed by a long postseason and make it through that postseason healthy.
Something the Dodgers know about very well trying to get to the World Series and winning it last year.
Were they dominant in free agency this year?
Yes, but is it still too early to crown them as champions?
Also yes.
