Are the Dodgers Really Ruining Baseball? The Numbers Tell a Different Story

When it was announced that two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal would be joining the back-to-back World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers from the Detroit Tigers, the baseball world responded with a variety of reactions across social media.

"We stand with MLB owners."

"Congrats to the Dodgers on their 2026 World Series Championship."

"There goes baseball next year."

In case you haven't been keeping an eye on America's Pastime recently, the MLB community seems to be at a bit of a crossroads. The Los Angeles Dodgers have won the World Series on the past two occasions, and their 69-45 record is currently the second best in baseball, behind only the Milwaukee Brewers. For many, the addition of Skubal, who is widely regarded as the best pitcher in the game, to an already star-studded roster featuring Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and more, has been interpreted as the NL West side locking in their third consecutive World Championship. That would be something that hasn't been done since the New York Yankees won in 1998, 1999, and 2000.

This has led many fans to brace for a lockout, as they believe more regulations need to be put in place to make Major League Baseball more accessible for all teams. The last time we saw anything similar was in 1994, when the MLB regular season was paused and eventually cancelled along with the playoffs and World Series, after a dispute about enacting a salary cap sparked a players' protest. The recent discussion around the Trade Deadline begs the question: are the Los Angeles Dodgers ruining baseball?

Many criticisms pointed toward the Dodgers lean on the fact that the LA side have an unfair advantage due to being one of the largest markets in the sport. And it is true. The Dodgers have an incredibly efficient front office as well as a lot of money to spend. With their $312 million payroll, the Dodgers currently have the second highest allocation in the major leagues. However, here's where it gets interesting. The largest allocation belongs to the New York Mets, the same New York Mets who are 47-66, sit at the bottom of the NL East, and have the sixth worst record in all of baseball. If you look further down the list, you'll find the aforementioned Milwaukee Brewers, the same Milwaukee Brewers whose 70-43 record is by far the best in baseball. Here's the catch. Not only do the Brewers have the 11th lowest payroll in the major leagues, but their allocation of $143 million is over $30 million below the league average of $176.6 million. Going even further down the list, you'll find the AL East-leading Rays in 23rd place with $105.4 million, over a third less than the Dodgers' allocation, as well as the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox at $97.2 million in 25th place. The bottom two teams are the Miami Marlins and Cleveland Guardians. Both teams have a record of at least .500 and are in postseason contention in both the National and American League Wild Card races. It goes to show that money certainly helps when it comes to building a competitive team in Major League Baseball. However, it isn't necessarily a guarantee for success. There are multiple examples of both big-money teams that fail to perform and teams that compete at exceptional levels with a fraction of the allocation of larger markets.

Now that we've crunched some numbers, it's worth shedding some light on something that holds a rather significant presence in this discussion: hypocrisy. For many fans, it seems as if the lockout conversation is very much conditional. If the Dodgers win the World Series this year, then change needs to happen. Which, first of all, is a bit of strange logic. Surely if the functionality of Major League Baseball were so archaic, the platform to take action shouldn't rely on the results of a seven-game series. Many people seem to think that if one single team, in this case the Dodgers, is able to win the World Series three years in a row, then the system in which professional baseball operates is broken and needs to change. However, when the New York Yankees won four World Series titles in a five-year span from 1996 to 2000, there weren't any protests. And it's not that there wasn't any precedent in place. There were four separate MLB lockouts from 1972 to 1995, with two occurring within just four years of each other.

The Yankees also had the highest payroll from 1996 to 2000, with the exception of 1998, when the highest allocation was held by the Baltimore Orioles and the World Series was eventually won by the Florida Marlins. Yes, commercialization of the game has accelerated exponentially in recent years. The 2000 highest payroll of $92.5 million would come in as the 27th highest today. However, the financial discrepancy was actually worse over 25 years ago. The lowest payroll in 2000 belonged to the Minnesota Twins, who had just 18% of the Yankees' $92.5 million. Fast forward to today, and the 30th-place allocation belonging to the Cleveland Guardians is 24% of the Mets' $317 million. Could an argument be made that this is a rather minor difference? Of course. However, the overall point is that high-payroll teams winning year in and year out is nothing new. When the Yankees were doing it in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there didn't seem to be an issue. But now when the Dodgers are doing the same thing, which is actually less severe on paper, the proposed solution is for everyone to stop playing baseball for an entire year.

The idea of a potential lockout is a very intricate issue, and one that can be sensitive at times. I think we can all agree that at the end of the day, we just want to be able to watch our favorite teams next summer. It's a matter that holds many different and complicated perspectives. However, once you look at the numbers and take a step back through the years, you'll realize that not only is this not a new issue, but it isn't so simple to just "buy a World Series." It's also worth mentioning that the 2023 World Series was contested between teams with the 4th and 21st highest payrolls, 2022 was contested between teams with the 8th and 9th highest allocations, and 2021 saw the 4th and 10th highest allocations come head to head, with the 10th-placed Atlanta Braves emerging victorious.

It begs the question: are the Los Angeles Dodgers really ruining baseball?

Team records and statistics are correct as of August 4th, 2026.