It is cool to be popular. The Los Angeles Dodgers are defending World Series champions, having now won two of the last five titles. They have more money than anyone could ever hope to spend, but somehow, they still find a way to do so. Not only are the cool, wealthy and good at their jobs, but people want to play with them. We have seen them be a major player in free agency in recent years, and it is not stopping any time soon.
In a recent survey among MLB players conducted by MLB.com, the Dodgers' biggest stars were among the six most popular players in baseball. Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani were tied for first with Ohtani's former Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout. Clayton Kershaw was tied for fourth with Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets. What does this all mean?
Well, people want to play with the best, guys who are on their way to going to Cooperstown one day.
- Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers)
- Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers)
- Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels)
- Aaron Judge (New York Yankees)
- Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers)
- Francisco Lindor (New York Mets)
If you need a visual representation of MLB.com's survey, there is a lot of blue to be found from this.
These stars were popular among their peers 🤩 pic.twitter.com/t2PKn15hlB
— MLB (@MLB) March 14, 2025
This means one thing and one thing only: The Dodgers are not going to go away in the night.
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Los Angeles Dodgers continue to be incredibly popular among players
You would be hard-pressed to find any better choices for players to be teammates with than Betts, Ohtani, Trout, Kershaw, Judge and Lindor. I am sure there are a few, but there is no point to spend any extra time on this. The point is for as long as the Dodgers win in the draft (Kershaw), in a trade (Betts) and in MLB free agency (Ohtani), it will be awfully hard to slow them down anytime soon.
At some point, the Dodgers may go into the luxury tax too far for payroll to keep on increasing this astronomically. Then again, there are teams out there who would avoid paying nickels to their best players if they were allowed to. While a salary cap may help the sport of baseball, a salary floor is what is necessary. The Dodgers will continue to be rewarded for spending big, while others will not do it.
Ultimately, the amount of vitriol the Dodgers are starting to garner from fans of other teams on social media has not made its way to the players just yet. Keep in mind this team only just won the World Series. They have not become dynastic just yet. In time, that could come to fruition, but we have to wait and see about all time. In the meantime, we may be on the verge of a historic season out of them.
You may not like the Dodgers, but it is hard to dislike Betts, Kershaw and Ohtani for their elite play.