Dodgers have best players; everyone is angry. Should they be?
Tanner Scott or Kirby Yates? It was a conundrum. The Dodgers wanted to bolster their bullpen and had already made several massive moves in free agency, including signing two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, inking Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman to expensive extensions, acquiring outfielder Michael Conforto and also landing the latest prized and coveted pitcher from Japan armed with a 100 mph fastball, rookie sensation Roki Sasaki. He was coveted by nearly every team in the sport, and it was almost unfair that he picked the Dodgers. The previous year, all they did was commit $1 billion to superstar unicorn Shohei Ohtani and Japanese superstar pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who were also coveted by every team in the sport.
DODGERS PLAY the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.
So after an offseason that represented an embarrassment of riches, they just needed to improve their bullpen. Do they sign Tanner Scott, the most coveted and expensive closer on the market, or the more affordable Yates? Well, given the strength of the Dodgers organization and the appeal they have to free agents who want to win and get better at their craft, there could be only one correct answer.
Both. They signed Scott and Yates. Why choose some when you can have it all?
That capped an offseason by the defending world champs in which they got everything and everyone they wanted. It was almost unfair; in fact some teams claimed it was. Commissioner Rob Manfred found himself answering questions about whether the playing field was level. Some teams cried foul!
But the thing is, the Dodgers weren’t doing anything wrong, they were just doing everything better than every other team. Drafting better. Developing better. Playing better and making better free agent pitches. They didn’t break any rules. And perhaps that’s what stings fans of other organizations and those organizations themselves. They didn’t cheat. They are just better. Is it bad for the sport? Well, we’ve actually seen this before.
From 1996 to 2000 the New York Yankees won four of those five World Series. They were a literal juggernaut; three of those titles were sweeps and they never faced a World Series game 7. Unlike this Dodgers team, that Yankees squad was primarily based around home-grown talent. Players like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte formed the foundation for those championship squads, but make no mistake, they went star-hunting too.
Among the players they were able to add to those teams via trade or free agency included Darryl Strawberry, Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, David Wells, David Cone, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, Tino Martinez, David Justice, Jose Canseco and Alfonso Soriano. At least half of those players are Hall-of-Fame caliber, and many were acquired via trade for pennies on the dollar.
Yep, the rich got richer. See a pattern? The sport and fans were so frustrated by the Yankees’ dominance, with their then swashbuckling and big spending owner George Steinbrenner, they nicknamed the franchise the “Evil Empire.”
But guess what? Even with the hated Yankees dominating, the sport was still fun. The 2001 season culminated with a somber but intense World Series in the tragic shadow of 9/11, and the Yankees actually lost with their unhittable closer on the mound! We saw Barry Bonds break the home record. We saw a fan named Steve Bartman extend the Chicago Cubs’ curse, while the Boston Red Sox finally ended theirs, coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the 2004 American League Championship Series against, you guessed it, the Yankees!
No, we don’t want the best, big market team to win the World Series every year. But you know what we do want? We want them to be good. You know why? When teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders, University of Notre Dame and University of Michigan are good, the sport is more interesting. You want the flagship franchises to be relevant; it’s far more interesting that way. Because the next best thing to rooting for your beloved, is rooting against the team you hate.
So yes, the Dodgers, like the Yankees are rolling. They just washed the beer off themselves from the parade, restocked their roster and are overwhelming favorites to do it again. But that’s the beauty of sports, and baseball in particular. Nothing is guaranteed. Anything can happen. And that’s why we watch.
Category: Entertainment
