Opinion | Dodgers add to dream team with Blake Snell and aren’t done yet. We need more teams to be like them
The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t need to sign left-hander Blake Snell. The fact they went out and got him anyways is another indication of how broken Major League Baseball’s competitive balance landscape has become.
Baseball has been a sport of haves and have nots for decades but the gulf between the two continues to grow with each passing year. Only a handful of owners feel compelled to spend, while others are more concerned with profits.
The Dodgers understand the situation better than anyone as one of MLB’s top-spending teams. They used seemingly endless resources to lock up Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman and now have two World Series in five years to show for it.
If the Dodgers had a weakness during their recent run, it could be found in the rotation. Injuries eroded their depth, and by the time the playoffs rolled around, there were just three healthy starters left. Based on the offensive contributions of Freeman, who won World Series MVP, that was all they needed.
Next year was already shaping up to be different. Ohtani, a former Cy Young candidate, is set to return to the mound. Tyler Glasnow, who was shut down in mid-August, will be back too. Then there’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto to go along with depth options Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May.
Only a perfectionist would have looked at the roster and decided it wasn’t enough. Top-ranking executive Andrew Friedman qualifies because he wasn’t content with adding depth. He wanted another star and got one by offering up a five-year deal worth $182 million (U.S.).
Snell was considered by some experts to be the top starter available in free agency. After returning from the injured list on July 14, the 31-year-old posted an MLB-best 1.31 ERA. He struck out 111 batters across 75 1/3 innings and opponents hit .111 off his curveball. The rich got richer.
The scary thing is that the Dodgers aren’t done. They remain the betting favourites to land Japanese righty Roki Sasaki, and if the club opts to go with a six-man staff, there’s the potential to re-sign Clayton Kershaw and use their remaining options as trade bait. Assuming everyone’s healthy, it projects to become MLB’s top starting group.
Post-season baseball is unpredictable. The best team doesn’t always win — instead, it’s the one that gets on a roll at the right time. The Dodgers high expenses don’t guarantee another title, but they do make the path to the post-season much easier to navigate and that’s more than half the battle. It gives them a huge advantage.
While splashy moves are being made, too many teams aren’t even pretending to care. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Dodgers had the third-highest 2024 payroll in MLB at $290 million. There were 14 teams that spent less than half that, including eight that didn’t even crack $100 million.
Most of the talk about the lack of competitive balance centres around the need for a salary cap, but what MLB requires even more is a salary floor. The current system boosts the revenues of small-market clubs, but instead of spending that money on players, too many are tucking it away as profit.
Just look at the Oakland A’s. In 2024, they spent $64.4 million on player salaries — the lowest of any team — and cried so poor they relocated to Sacramento. Next season’s payroll projects to $33 million, which is $19 million less than what Snell received as a signing bonus.
What A’s billionaire owner John Fisher wants people to overlook is that his team receives approximately $60 million each year from the league’s central fund, which includes national television deals, streaming rights and merchandise sales. And that’s just one piece of the pie.
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