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By Carter Hepp

The 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers may go down as one of the greatest baseball teams ever assembled, but here’s how they’re ruining baseball.

Shohei Ohtani as a Los Angeles Angel. Photo credit: Mogami Kariya.

So far in the offseason, the Dodgers have set records with their free-agent signings. On December 11, 2023, they signed potentially the greatest baseball player to ever touch the sport, pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who just won his second Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the last three years. Ohtani’s deal is for ten years and $700 million. This is the largest player contract ever in all four major sports (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL). 

Soon after acquiring Ohtani, they signed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a top international prospect, for 12 years at $325 million, spending over $1 billion on just those two players. They also traded for potential All-Star pitcher Tyler Glasnow and centerfielder Manuel Margot from the Tampa Bay Rays. In return, the Rays received two Dodgers prospects: Ryan Pepiot and Johnny DeLuca. Even with all of these new additions, the Dodgers were not content. On January 12, the Dodgers signed outfielder/designated Hitter Teoscar Hernandez for one year and $23.5 million. Hernandez provides above-average power and serviceable speed on the basepaths, making LA’s terrifying lineup even scarier.

You may be wondering how the Dodgers can afford all of these monstrous contracts, and the answer is quite simple. First off, Ohtani’s jersey sales set a record within 48 hours, previously set by Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi after he joined the MLS’s Inter Miami. Additionally, Ohtani opted to defer his contract, meaning that he will be earning $2 million annually until 2033. Once 2034 begins, Ohtani will be making an astounding $68 million annually until 2043. The Dodgers have taken advantage of being able to defer contracts, doing so with superstars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Deferring contracts has allowed the Dodgers to keep spending serious amounts of money, but deferring the players’ contracts could eventually come back to bite them, as they will be owing $865.5 million in deferred money through 2040. 

With the Dodgers signing what seems to be every star player, the topic of a salary cap has been a popular discussion among baseball fans all across the globe. The MLB is the only major American sport without a salary cap. A salary cap sets a limit on each team for their annual payroll. For example, in the National Football League, there is a salary cap of $224.8 million, meaning the contracts of all of a team’s players’ contracts cannot add up to more than $224.8 Million. With the addition of a salary cap to baseball, major improvements would be made in the league. 

First off, it would balance out the teams. Smaller market teams, like the Orioles, Rays, and Pirates, are constantly at a disadvantage due to not having as much money to spend on free agents. In the standings for the past few years, the teams at the top tend to be significant spenders, such as the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees, Rangers, and Red Sox. Another issue that comes with being a small market team is being almost forced to trade away star players because management can’t afford to sign them to big contracts. Typically, when you trade a superstar, the teams will get a haul of prospects in return. 

Juan Soto as a Washington National. Photo credit: All-Pro Reels via Wikimedia Commons.

In 2022, the Washington Nationals broke the baseball world by trading a generational superstar, Juan Soto. Soto was mid-way through his fifth season when he and All-Star teammate Josh Bell were traded to the San Diego Padres for Robert Hassell III, CJ Abrams, Jarlin Susana, and James Wood. Abrams has turned into an above-average shortstop for the Nationals, and Wood is a top-ten prospect in all of baseball. Even with the Nationals’ future trending upward, Nationals fans would love to see Soto back in red, white, and blue.

Although having a high payroll has helped many teams throughout the regular season, there’s a recurring theme among the high-payroll teams in the playoffs. During the 2023 season, the Dodgers finished with a 100-win and 62-loss season, while also being first in their division and second in the National League. This set the Dodgers up with a first-round bye, while the 84-78 Diamondbacks battled it out against the 92-70 Brewers in the Wild Card Series. The Diamondbacks ended up winning the series 2-0, meaning they would have to face the Dodgers in the National League Divisional Series. Coming into the playoffs, the Dodgers were World Series favorites, as they had the best lineup in baseball. One thing was missing from this loaded team, though: momentum. Baseball is a streaky and momentum-based sport, meaning that it is possible that any team can beat any other team on any given day. The Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers 3-0 in the series, and just like that, the World Series favorites were knocked out. Not only were the Dodgers out of the playoffs, but only two of the top-ten highest payrolls in the MLB made it past the second round. With this many teams being out, there may have been lingering karma in the league for having a high payroll.

After failing to win a championship last year, expectations for the Dodgers this year are higher than ever.  If Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman fail to win a World Series, their season will be deemed a failure yet again.

Featured image credit: LA Dodgers.