Since there is such an enormous gap in wealth between the richest baseball teams and the “poorest” ones, a surprise postseason berth by a club like the Miami Marlins truly feels special. Contrarily, seeing a behemoth like the Los Angeles Dodgers mow their way through the rest of the competition will nauseate most fan bases. Apparently, there are even some players who take issue with their offseason spending habits, as evidenced by the comments of a St. Louis Cardinals All-Star.
“We’re not exactly a low payroll team, but you got the Dodgers playing checkbook baseball,” Miles Mikolas said, per MLB.com's John Denton. “We’re going to be the hardest working group of Midwestern farmers we can be…It would be great to stick it to the Dodgers [on Opening Day].”
Farmers from all around America's Heartland are frantically gathering as we speak to figure out why they are not pulling in the $16 million per year they are clearly supposed to be earning. In any case, Mikolas has a chip on his shoulder going into this season. He and the rest of this “blue-collar” Cardinals team, which currently owns the 10th highest payroll in the MLB, might have some extra motivation in 2024.
Dodgers could be a target of many MLB teams this year
The Dodgers doled out eye-popping amounts of money to sign Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in free agency, and they also inked Tyler Glasnow to a sizable contract extension after landing him in a trade. Additionally, they added Teoscar Hernandez on an expensive one-year deal.
And yet, LA is only one slot ahead of the Cardinals in the payroll rankings. Because much of Ohtani's record-setting contract is deferred, the Dodgers still have the financial flexibility to acquire another top talent at some point. Although this well-run organization deserves ample credit for being an attractive destination, one can see why the mega team would be polarizing.
Miles Mikolas' remarks come after LA star Mookie Betts said that playing the Dodgers will be the “World Series” for their opponents. It is an ironic statement to make given the franchise's recent tendency to fall short of reaching the actual Fall Classic. Still, there is some accuracy to Betts' point. This group has a huge bullseye on its back.
Just as Mikolas declared, there will be plenty of teams who relish in being the ones to potentially eliminate the undisputed offseason winners from championship contention. That is a testament to the standard the Dodgers have built over the last decade.
If the Cardinals are going to rise from their 2023 ashes and topple Los Angeles and the rest that the National League has to offer, Mikolas must recapture the form that earned him to All-Star Game invitations. Though, fans will certainly appreciate the fire he is bringing with Opening Day less than two weeks away.
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