We’ve seen plenty of baseball oddities over the years, but we can’t imagine many instances when an organization — in this case, the Los Angeles Dodgers — should be grateful to the team that ended its championship hopes.
We’re not suggesting Shohei Ohtani and Dave Roberts plan to send the Brewers a Whitman’s Sampler or an Amazon gift card. But Thursday’s season-ending loss will sting, especially if the looming work stoppage significantly impacts spring training and Opening Day.
Yet the Dodgers do have something working in their favor beyond an immensely talented roster, and they can thank the Brewers, Rays, and Guardians.
The Brewers may have just saved the Dodgers from a salary cap
Even those who don’t watch baseball have likely heard the competitive-balance talking points about why Major League Baseball needs a salary cap. We’d personally prefer a salary floor so teams like the Rockies, Marlins, and Rays are all but required actually to sign free agents, but the owners collectively want a cap.
Spotrac lists the average MLB payroll at nearly $182 million, and the Brewers rank No. 19 at $146.2 million. Interestingly, three of the 11 teams below them — the White Sox (No. 24 at $103.3 million), Rays (No. 28 at $95.6 million), and Guardians (No. 30 at $74.4 million) — all reached the postseason, and the latter two won their divisions.
Prepare for the narrative to gradually shift in the coming days. Why would the sport need a salary cap when the NL pennant winner spends $45 million less than the league average? Cleveland has a 2-1 lead over Tampa Bay in the ALCS, and neither has a payroll above $96 million.
Think about that for a second. Eight of the league’s 10 highest-spending teams made the postseason, but only the Dodgers reached the LCS. Of those eight teams, just four — the Dodgers (No. 2 at $339.3 million), Yankees (No. 3 at $308.3 million), Braves (No. 6 at $263.4 million), and Padres (No. 9 at $239.7 million) — even played in the League Division Series.
Will the owners reverse course? Probably not, seeing as how many have convinced themselves they’re better off sticking to the “Moneyball” approach. The concept of “buying championships” is a fallacy, because the Dodgers’ success partially stems from their overall player development; All-Star third baseman Max Muncy was a 2012 fifth-round pick of the Athletics, lefty starter Justin Wrobleski went in the 2021 draft’s 11th round, and the list goes on.
We still expect the Dodgers to move aggressively even if the league implements a cap. Nothing has stopped the Patriots, Chiefs, or Warriors from consistently competing for championships while battling a salary cap, dead financial hits, and so forth. They’ll occasionally make tough decisions to save money, though age-related regression is often the greatest problem.
Nothing should excite Dodger fans more than the thought of 32-year-old Ohtani playing like late-career Tom Brady, or Freddie Freeman holding off Father Time, just as Stephen Curry has recently done.
As for the rest of us? We just want other clubs to strike a balance between handing out lofty contracts and building a competent minor-league system.
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