Are The Dodgers Bad For Baseball? Their Biggest Rival Has An Answer

Another offseason, another debate over whether the Los Angeles Dodgers are ruining baseball. 

The Dodgers, as a reminder, are one of Major League Baseball's richest teams, and unlike so many other big market organizations, they act like it. Thanks to the insane amount of extra income they get from having Shohei Ohtani on their team, team ownership and the front office have decided to try and maximize their competitive window. 

In the last two offseasons, they've signed Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Edwin Diaz, Kyle Tucker, and Roki Sasaki. They re-signed Teoscar Hernandez and Blake Treinen, while also extending key role players like Tommy Edman. Oh, and they've developed one of the best two or three farm systems in baseball, depending on which evaluator you ask.

For a team coming off back-to-back World Series wins, it's an embarrassment of riches. And it's made fans furious. Many have said the 2027 season is already doomed, as owners could push for a salary cap during upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Others have said they're done watching baseball, despite the Dodgers' low odds of winning the World Series again. 

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But what do top executives of other teams think about the Dodgers? Do they agree with fans that LA is "bad for baseball?" Well, not exactly.

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Giants Executives Don't Think LA Is Bad For Baseball

Dan Patrick interviewed Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers' biggest rival. And asked Baer what he thought of LA's spending and what it means for the sport. 

"Fill in the blank, the Dodgers are ‘blank’ for baseball," Patrick asked. 

"The Dodgers are a great competitor for baseball, for the Giants" Baer answered. "It's an interesting discussion, you've talked to the commissioner about this and others. Let's just take all the sports. Here we are at Super Bowl week. I think having a dragon to slay, in a sport…it's not all bad." 

Baer said the Dodgers are that dragon right now, which gives opportunities for other teams to unseat them. That's what the Giants want to do moving forward.

"Having a dragon to slay isn't necessarily a bad thing for the sport. We want to beat the Dodgers, and we want to be at the top of the division, and one day we want to be the dragon to slay," he continued. 

Baer also highlighted something that's often lost in the discussion of "bad for baseball" and the "sport isn't worth watching": baseball is impossible to predict.

"Baseball is unpredictable as well," Baer explained. "When we won three championships in 2010, 12, and 14, we weren't predicted to win any of those years. And we didn't have a top five payroll any of those years. So, hats off to the Dodger organization because they've done it with obviously high-priced players, but they've also done it with farm system and development."

That's how other teams in the league actually view LA. Not as "ruining baseball," but as an example of how to successfully build an organization with all advantages at their disposal. Obviously, just a handful of other teams have the resources and finances to follow the Dodgers example, at that level of spending. But there are ways to build teams and rosters that don't rely exclusively on spending. Players reach free agency often around their age-30 season, meaning that the team signing them is paying for the declining phase of their careers. Draft well, develop international talent well, and you have an advantage with younger players at their peak. 

And again, when all else fails, remember that baseball is nearly impossible to predict.