Another MLB Player Comes Out Against Salary Cap, Says Fans Don't Understand Why LA Dodgers Best In Baseball

There have been two questions hanging over the 2025-2026 Major League Baseball offseason. One is whether we'll have a 2027 season or not, thanks to upcoming labor negotiations. The other? Whether the Los Angeles Dodgers are "good" or "bad" for baseball.

Opinions from fans differ, based mostly on which team you support, your willingness to engage with information or approach things emotionally and irrationally, and whether you've watched other sports in the past decade. 

But where opinions don't differ? The players themselves. Universally, players, even players from teams that have lost to Los Angeles in the postseason in recent years, support what the Dodgers are doing. San Diego Padres star Manny Machado, who's hated in LA and lost a heartbreaking National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in 2024, came out in profanity-laced support for their spending. Bryce Harper, whose Philadelphia Phillies' team lost to the Dodgers in the 2025 NLDS, also said that they're good for the sport.

RELATED: MLB Players Love The Dodgers, So Can The League Be Fixed Without A Salary Cap?

Now another player, whose former team just lost to LA in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series, has agreed with both of them. The real question is, will fans listen in time for owners to realize it?

Chris Bassitt of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches to the Boston Red Sox during at the Rogers Centre on June 18, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images)

Chris Bassitt Says Dodgers Are ‘Really Good’ Organization

Joining the "Foul Territory" show, former Toronto Blue Jays and current Baltimore Orioles starter Chris Bassitt was asked by A.J. Pierzynski whether the Dodgers are "bad for baseball," and gave an immediate "No" answer. 

When reminded that fans have decided that LA's spending is "terrible for the game," Bassitt expanded on why their money and payroll is just part of the story. 

"There's always going to be great teams no matter what we do," Bassitt said. "I feel everybody behind the scenes, like as a casual fan, they look at [Shohei] Ohtani being great, Mookie [Betts] being great. Freddie [Freeman] being great…They look at all the guys they got, like Will Smith, Max Muncy. Why would we penalize the Dodgers for being good at what they do?"

It's not just the talent they've accumulated, it's that when signing players, drafting and developing, the front office has excelled at every level of roster construction.

"Like they just haven't missed," he continued. "Like there's so many teams that have went down this path and they just have missed. They have missed on guys, they have missed on paying guys, they missed on scouting these types of hitters or pitchers, they come in, and they're not who they think they were. The Dodgers, for what, five, six years, haven't missed."

That's the key variable that separates good teams and bad teams, and where spending can only cover up so many faults. For example, the 2025 New York Mets missed the playoffs despite the league's second-highest payroll, and have outspent the Dodgers since Steve Cohen took over, with only one NLCS appearance and no championships to show for it. Look at the Los Angeles Angels, who spent a fortune on Anthony Rendon, only to see him get hurt, underperform, then decide he doesn't care about playing baseball after all. Machado's Padres team in 2023 had a gigantic payroll, with Juan Soto, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Yu Darvish, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Xander Bogaerts. They missed the playoffs, due to a lack of depth. That's where being good at evaluation, as Bassitt describes, matters most. 

He continued, explaining that from conversations he's had with people he knows in the Dodgers organization, it's the little things that add up too. 

"Best of the best family setup," he added. "All the families are treated like gold there. This is the best of the best clubhouse when it comes to people in the clubhouse, how they mesh, how they love each other. It's the best, the best. It's not just like the talent in the room. It is everything that surrounds the talent. They have everything. They have every duck in a row." 

That's where LA will always have an advantage, no matter the limitations placed on the Dodgers in terms of payroll. If you build a successful organization, a successful workplace, people will want to be a part of it. Just like employees would tend towards a company with better ancillary benefits than one that has none of those perks. Bassitt acknowledges their money helps, but says the game is about beating them anyway.

"How am I gonna be mad at an organization for being really, really good? Now, obviously it's money. There's a lot of money that goes in, it's involved in it. But at the end of the day, we gotta beat them. I'm not gonna sit here and try to make excuses and say like, 'Well, we just can't win.' We have to beat them…They're great. They're a well-oiled machine. They are great at what they do."

Again, this is what a salary cap won't fix. If anything, a cap might entice more free agents to pick LA. If the financial offers are similar, as they'd hypothetically be under a cap system, players will choose to go where the clubhouse is the best, where the culture is the best, and where off-field opportunities are easily accessible. That's where the Dodgers have excelled. Building a "well-oiled machine" to show players and families that they're valued. Ironically, that might be the easiest thing for other clubs, big market or not, to emulate. They just have to care enough to try. What we've learned though, is that most of them don't.