Are The Dodgers Ruining Baseball?

The Los Angeles Dodgers were already seen by many as an unstoppable force prior to this past weekend’s trade for Tarik Skubal, who is arguably the best pitcher in MLB. Baseball’s competitive balance argument is currently front and center, as the Dodgers are paying more in luxury tax alone ($180) than half of the teams in baseball use for their normal payroll.

Los Angeles traded away three prospects (Zyhir Hope, River Ryan, and Brady Smith) in exchange for the 2024 and 2025 American League Cy Young Award winner.

“It just seems like there’s always blowback with us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said to ESPN following the blockbuster deal. “People are passionate. We feel good about it. There’s nothing that we did that no one else couldn’t have done. I just love our front office. We have the players to go pull something like this off, and we’ve still got, you know, arguably the top one or two or three farm systems in baseball. So it’s a credit to a lot of people in this organization.”

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman also pushed back on the narrative that his team is ruining the sport due to its lavish spending.

“Passionately disagree,” Friedman said. “It’s special, and we’re not going to be flippant about this moment in time and how special this group, this era can be in the history of this incredibly storied organization. We’re going to do everything we can to keep doing what we can to win the last game of the year.”

If the Dodgers can win the World Series this season, they will become the first MLB team to “three-peat” since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.

Part of the reason as to why the Dodgers are able to spend so much is because of a loophole they were granted in bankruptcy court over a decade ago. Basically, the Dodgers can keep a larger amount of their monster local TV contract than other MLB teams. LA is also deferring a ton of money down the road, most notably to Shohei Ohtani, who is making just $2 million annually until 2033. From 2034 to 2043, though, Ohtani will make $68 million per year.

Dodgers odds
The Dodgers were already heavy favorites to win the 2026 World Series prior to the start of the season. In March, LA was +230 to win it all. The next team on the odds board, the Yankees, had a price that was over four times that number (+1000).

Roberts’ squad has lived up to their billing as a juggernaut this season as they are tied with the Brewers for the most wins in baseball at the moment, with 69.

At the All-Star break, the Dodgers were +190 to win the World Series. Today at Fanatics Sportsbook, following the trade for Skubal, the Dodgers are +160 to win it all. The Yankees remain second on the odds board, now owning a +600 price.