The Dodgers become the first team since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees three-peat to repeat in hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy. In the process, they denied everyone outside of Los Angeles any level of enjoyment until February. Despite the most entertaining World Series in the past decade, the Dodgers broke the hearts of all baseball fans by emphasizing why there likely will be a lengthy work stoppage after the 2026 season.
Los Angeles became the first team in MLB history to break the $400 million salary threshold, capping out at over $416 million. Shohei Ohtani, the $700 million man, did not win the World Series MVP, but still gets to earn $70 million next year. We talk about how baseball cannot be taken seriously when teams like the Yankees, Phillies, and Dodgers spend more than several Fortune 500 businesses, and now Los Angeles has another store-bought championship to prove it.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, being paid $325 million over 12 years himself, threw 96 pitches on Friday night in Game 6, which the Dodgers turned a crucial double play in the bottom of the 9th to hold on for a 3-1 win, only to follow up with 2 ⅔ scoreless innings of relief on Saturday. Credited with the Championship-clinching win on Saturday, Yamamoto became the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2001 to win Games 6 and 7 in the same World Series, and only the fourth ever to match the feat.
Yes, I know that the Toronto Blue Jays had the fifth-highest payroll in the MLB in 2025, and are currently third going into 2026. The Blue Jays were clearly the better team in the series, which makes the disappointment of Los Angeles’ victory that much more bitter. Ernie Clement set a MLB postseason record with 30 hits, including at least two hits in five of the seven games in the championship round. Clement made just $1.97 million in 2025.
In wake of all the political turmoil throughout the United States, the irony of a team from the most populous and democratic city in California going up against the only team outside the United States was not lost on anyone throughout the series. There were countless posts on Threads and Facebook of fans cheering heavily for Toronto, hoping to break a 32-year title drought.
In 2024, their first of the two championships, the Dodgers paid over $103 million in luxury tax, and Guggenheim Baseball Management has an upcoming $168 million check to be written to the league offices for this season.
Yes, I know that the Toronto Blue Jays had the fifth-highest payroll in the MLB in 2025, and are currently third going into 2026. The Blue Jays were clearly the better team in the series, which makes the disappointment of Los Angeles’ victory that much more bitter. Ernie Clement set a MLB postseason record with 30 hits, including at least two hits in five of the seven games in the championship round. Clement made just $1.97 million in 2025.
In wake of all the political turmoil throughout the United States, the irony of a team from the most populous and democratic city in California going up against the only team outside the United States was not lost on anyone throughout the series. There were countless posts on Threads and Facebook of fans cheering heavily for Toronto, hoping to break a 32-year title drought.
In 2024, their first of the two championships, the Dodgers paid over $103 million in luxury tax, and Guggenheim Baseball Management has an upcoming $168 million check to be written to the league offices for this season.
This is why you are going to have a lengthy lockout or impasse once the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires after the conclusion of the 2026 World Series. Smaller market owners in places like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Minnesota, Washington D.C., and Tampa (even after the roof of their stadium is fixed and they can move back in) cannot afford to come up to a salary floor when the elites are buying all the marquee talent. There can be no sustainable competitive balance, since trickle-down economics only goes so far in professional sports. Major League Baseball right now is no better than the landscape of college football. At least in college basketball there are 68 teams that get into the postseason, and you have upwards of 15-20 that have realistic chances to win a National Championship. In baseball, the pool is the same 6-7 out of 30 every single season. If the Mets, Yankees, or Red Sox miss the postseason, the entire first two rounds of the playoffs are spent discussing what those teams need to do in the offseason, rather than the 12 teams talented enough to actually get into the tournament. Salary caps have found a way to work and flourish in each of the other three “Big Four” sports. The NHL has already written into their next CBA that postseason teams need to remain cap compliant, after the Vegas Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning won championships recently hiding high-priced players on long-term injured reserve until the playoffs started.
If the Blue Jays decide not to pitch to Ohtani in Game 3, we would be talking about a worst-to-first championship for Toronto, after finishing last in the AL East in 2024. If nothing else, Blue Jays’ bench coach Don Mattingly deserved to finally have a World Series ring on his hand after nearly four decades in the sport.
Instead, we are subjected to an entire winter of Dodger players being featured anytime there is a break in the action during another Los Angeles sporting event. I know Toronto Maple Leaf fans are the most insufferable in hockey, but it would have been wonderful to see Clement or Vlad Guerrero Jr. honored as something to cheer for, instead of the usual playoff futility the franchise is known for.
-JC24
-JC24