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The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series after spending over $1 billion in free agency. With Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman leading the way, they evaporated the Yankees in the Fall Classic. But the spending did not stop there, as they added Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, and brought back Teoscar Hernandez this winter. Fans and executives alike are not thrilled with the Dodgers' continued spending spree with seemingly unlimited money. Jeff Passan of ESPN details the feelings across the league.
“The anger — from disillusioned fans, from dispirited front offices, from owners made to look like they don't care — is very real. And it's growing to the point where people at the highest levels of Major League Baseball acknowledge it concerns them,” Passan wrote.
“Most worrisome is the rhetoric that fans are done with the game. That what L.A. is doing is unfair. That the financial imbalance ruins the sport. A villain around which people can rally is tolerable; an unbeatable monolith is not.”
The Dodgers have added more marquee players this offseason than any other team after winning the World Series. Every part of their team has All-Star talent and the money is the reason why. It should be annoying fans, but owners can do something about it.
Other MLB owners must help stop the Dodgers
Certain teams do not have the money to compete with the Dodgers. The Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers were not going to compete for Shohei Ohtani. Mookie Betts was not going to the Miami Marlins or Tampa Bay Rays. But the upper-echelon of MLB teams can help stop the Dodgers.
And there are teams trying, specifically the Toronto Blue Jays. They were in on Ohtani, Sasaki, and Tanner Scott before they all went to the Dodgers. Scott reportedly took less money to join LA's super team, which is a dangerous precedent moving forward. But Juan Soto did not pick the Dodgers and neither did Aaron Judge. So they aren't getting literally everybody.
At some point, the Dodgers will not be able to add more elite talent to their roster. They have four ace-level pitchers in their rotation, Sasaki, Glasnow, Yamamoto, and Snell, as well as Ohtani. Their infield is loaded, their outfield is deep, and they have the best designated hitter in the world. They may never stop spending money but other teams like the Yankees and Mets can try and compete with them moving forward.
