Are we fully appreciating the Dodgers?
DODGERS ARE GOLDEN. Fans enjoy this historic moment.
Photo by Mat Weller
It wasn’t always this way, the ubiquitous winning by the Dodgers. During the eight seasons before current ownership bought the Dodgers they missed the playoffs four times and never advanced to the World Series.
Since then they’ve won the division 12 of 14 times, won two World Series, and are attempting to be the first repeat champions in 25 years. Do you know how many teams have won 12 division titles in a 14 year span? One—your Los Angeles Dodgers.
Though it may seem like it, Dodgers success is not a birthright; it hasn’t always been this way. So rather than question if they screwed up outfielder, now shortstop Mookie Betts by having him change positions, if left fielder Michael Conforto was a bad signing, or if manager Dave Roberts and the front office rely too much on analytics, I’d invite you to appreciate this historical run.
Since taking over the team in 2012, Mark Walter and Guggenheim partners have made the Dodgers the best organization in the sport, and it’s not even close (good news for Lakers fans, they just bought your team too). Forget about the fact that the Dodgers are extremely wellheeled financially and can afford any player they want; that helps a lot, but let’s push that aside for a second.
Andrew Friedman took over baseball operations for the Dodgers at the end of 2014; he earned acclaim by doing a lot with a little in Tampa Bay, turning their low-budget franchise into a consistent winner by doing a better job of finding good players than anyone else.
Turns out Friedman has been able to do a lot with a lot, too. And it’s not just player acquisition; their front office is the envy of the league. Two Friedman lieutenants have already gone on to take over other franchises, and three of their former assistant coaches went on to manage other teams.
ROOTING FOR THE Dodgers last month, against the Milwaukee Brewers, at Dodger Stadium were Anthony and Amanda Mansour, Heather Duffy Boylston and Susan Kneafsy.
And it seems like every player wants to come to the Dodgers, not just because they win and play in big games where players can become legends. The Dodgers also have a knack for acquiring once great pitchers who are either later in their career or coming off an injury, and helping them have a rebirth.
When it comes to player acquisition, the Dodgers will do whatever they have to do in order to win. The 2020 championship team had homegrown stars like Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urías, Kenley Jansen, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Will Smith, and Max Muncy (technically he was a cast-off of another team but he’s also the epitome of a Dodgers reclamation project, turning him into an All Star).
Some of those homegrown stars earned massive contracts with new teams, and the Dodgers seem adept at knowing which of their stars to retain and which to let walk. Because they draft and develop players so well, they have a rich pool to use to acquire players via trade, which they’ve done most notably with Mookie Betts, as well as Tyler Glasnow and mid-season acquisitions like Manny Machado, Max Scherzer, and Trea Turner.
But when the Dodgers decide to dip into free agency, they go big. Two years ago they made the biggest splash of them all, convincing the game’s biggest star, Shohei Ohtani, to head north on the 5 and play for the Dodgers. That same offseason they signed his countryman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a star pitcher in Japan, to a stunning 12-year, $325 million contract. Today he’s the Dodgers’ ace. This year, the latest Japanese import that had teams clamoring for his services was Rõki Sasaki, and he choose the Dodgers too. He’s a future ace but in the playoffs he’s serving as their closer and so far has been unhittable. And honestly, why wouldn’t Sasaki, or the next great Japanese player choose the Dodgers? Can you imagine the lure of playing with Ohtani? For good measure this past offseason the Dodgers also signed Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim, he of the massive quads and blazing speed, who scored the winning run in the divisional round against the Phillies. The Dodgers aren’t just the biggest show in the U.S., they may own a significantly larger portion of the planet.
Elite front office. Homegrown players. Acquiring stars via trade or free agency. The Dodgers are winning by any means necessary; let’s enjoy it while it lasts.
Category: Entertainment
