Ruining Baseball’? Fans Say Yes—Dodgers Say, They Embrace Claims And Are Loving It

During their October march toward another National League pennant, the Los Angeles Dodgers have become exactly what many baseball insiders long anticipated — a powerhouse bordering on unstoppable. With a 9-1 postseason record, the team has steamrolled opponents with precision pitching and a relentless, deep lineup capable of delivering in any moment.

Their latest triumph came Friday night with a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers to complete a sweep in the NL Championship Series. The victory was punctuated by an extraordinary performance from Shohei Ohtani — three home runs, 10 strikeouts — underscoring why the $700 million star has become the face of this baseball dynasty.

Now, the Dodgers are poised to open the World Series on Friday with a chance to become Major League Baseball’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years. It’s their fifth World Series appearance in the past nine seasons, and the team has made the postseason an astonishing 13 years in a row — a level of sustained excellence rarely seen in any sport.

Not everyone, however, sees the Dodgers’ dominance as good for the game. Critics argue that their massive financial advantage risks tilting baseball’s competitive balance beyond repair. The team’s enormous payroll — about $341.5 million this season, with another $168 million expected in luxury tax payments — totals roughly $509.5 million. That’s nearly triple what the Brewers spent and far exceeds the projected payrolls of the Dodgers’ possible World Series opponents, Seattle ($167.2 million) and Toronto ($252.7 million plus $13.4 million in tax).

Some baseball executives fear that Los Angeles’ willingness to outspend nearly everyone could lead to renewed calls for a hard salary cap in the next round of labor negotiations. But inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse — and among the more than 4 million fans who filled Dodger Stadium this season — that criticism barely registers.

“I’ll tell you, before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” manager Dave Roberts told the jubilant home crowd Friday night. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”

Brewers manager Pat Murphy called his team “the biggest underdog in baseball history” going into the series, citing the staggering payroll gap. Still, as writer Louisa Thomas noted in The New Yorker, Milwaukee actually had the better regular-season record — proof that money alone doesn’t guarantee success.

And yet, as Ohtani continues to redefine what’s possible on a baseball field, the Dodgers’ combination of talent, resources, and relentless drive may simply represent a new era of excellence — one the rest of baseball must now find a way to match.

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