Dodgers aren't ruining baseball, but neither are MLB's biggest cheapskates

There's been a very popular narrative emerging this offseason: The Los Angeles Dodgers are ruining baseball. And when you see how much money L.A. has spent in free agency this winter, you begin to understand the sentiment.

Just a year after dropping a $700 million contract on Shohei Ohtani (with $680 million deferred), the Dodgers got to back to business and offered heavily deferred deals to top free agents like Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernandez and Tanner Scott. Oh, and the team also agreed to terms with the top international free agent available this offseason, Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki.

L.A. has built a super-team, there's no denying that. According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Dodgers' projected 40-man competitive balance payroll is sitting at $388 million. That outpaces their closest competitor, the Philadelphia Phillies, by over $80 million. The Miami Marlins total competitive balance payroll is $83.9 million.

The Dodgers aren't ruining baseball...yet

So for all those who are arguing that Los Angeles is ruining the sport, couldn't the Dodgers' ownership group just as easily point to franchises like the Miami Marlins, Athletics, Chicago White Sox and others who aren't investing in their ball clubs? Maybe those cheapskates are the real problem.

The disparity in payroll is a valid concern, and it's not one that exists in the NFL and the NBA. Unlike those two leagues, Major League Baseball does not have a salary cap. And while many baseball fans have been advocating for a cap (and salary floor) for many years, that's something that has to be hammered out in the collective bargaining agreement.

But is this much ado about nothing? Interestingly enough, when looking at the payrolls of all 12 participants in last year's postseason, only six (the Dodgers, Phillies, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros) ranked among the top 10 in baseball. The Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians all had a competitive balance payroll of $140 million or less.

Small-market MLB clubs like the Royals, Orioles, and D-backs have made their mark in recent years

This is nothing new for baseball. The big-market franchises have been buying up talent for years, while the small-market clubs try to cobble together enough money to find bargains in free agency while also drafting and developing their own homegrown talent. While the Dodgers and Yankees usually take the former approach, the Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals have both reached the Fall Classic over the past decade using the latter.

The Guardians reached the World Series in 2016 with the 18th-highest payroll. When the Astros won the World Series in 2017, they had the 17th-highest payroll in the sport. The most recent example was the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks, whose payroll ranked 20th that season.

Payroll is just one aspect of building a successful baseball franchise. For a team like the Dodgers, it helps to have deep pockets and the marketability that attracts big-name free agents. But a team like the Rays is just as confident in their strategy of drafting and developing high-level talent before cashing in on the value of that talent when it's at its highest.

The Dodgers have made it to the playoffs each of the last 12 seasons, and — because every true baseball fan knows that the shortened-season in 2020 was a farce — L.A. has just one 162-game World Series trophy to show for it. The Rays have made the playoffs five of the past six seasons despite continuously running one of the lowest payrolls in MLB. The Orioles are the latest example of a frugal franchise who's making waves. The Milwaukee Brewers always seem to have a top-tier ball club despite keeping their books lean.

A salary cap has never been popular with the MLBPA, but may eventually become necessary

Look, I love parity in sports as much as the next guy, and would love to see either the implementation of a salary cap or tougher penalties for big spenders to help balance out baseball's talent pool. The Dodgers have an abundance of riches at the moment, and there are those who feel that it's unfair. I get it.

But while some baseball fans are bemoaning baseball's economic disparity, we're watching the Kansas City Chiefs — in a sport that has a salary cap — make their fifth trip to the Super Bowl in the last six years.

Don't be shocked if MLB takes some measures during the next CBA to fix this growing issue. But until the Dodgers win (at least) a second championship, proclaiming that their offseason spending is ruining the sport is just foolish. By the same token, teams like Rays — who are excessively frugal — aren't ruining baseball either. As for the Pittsburgh Pirates, that's a story for another time.

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