Dodgers Are Ruining Baseball

[Tedballgame]

Yes, I know the Blue Jays could have won the game and the World Series but they didn’t. Once again, the Dodgers have an unlimited budget and they are able to sign all of the good Japanese players. All of those foreign players should go in the draft just like everybody else. Small market teams have no chance to win the World Series and compete with that. There are many high school in college players that would love to be able to just pick the spot where they play but they can’t. They go in the draft. It should be the same for everybody. I did not watch this year‘s World Series because of that very reason. Baseball will continue to lose fans if this keeps up. 

[jad]

Exactly.  How do small market teams like those in NY, Phily, Boston, Chicago, Miami, and Houston manage to compete at all?

[Jasonbay44]

I think a bigger issue than the Dodgers, who are willing to spend money and also draft amazing is the teams who don’t even try to compete or spend money.

Reds have Hunter Green signed through 2029 for relatively cheap and just made the playoffs. They put him on trade block this off season to try and save money. I went to their stadium and paid $13 for a beer and $6 for a water. They want me to pay those prices but don’t want to pay their ace? And we know Elly De La Cruz is likely going to get moved at some points. 

Tigers have a generational ace and are somehow $250 million dollars APART in negotiations? 

and don’t get me started on the teams like Pirates and Marlins who have jokes in control of their teams. 

Creating a salary cap won’t “save” baseball and the Dodgers didn’t ruin baseball. In leagues with salary caps, the teams with bad ownership are still bad and there is a lot of repeats/same champions in those leagues. A salary cap isn’t helping NFL and NBA get too much parity or helping teams with awful ownership like Cleveland Browns or Washington Wizards compete. 

[notin]

5 minutes ago, Jasonbay44 said:

I think a bigger issue than the Dodgers, who are willing to spend money and also draft amazing is the teams who don’t even try to compete or spend money.

Reds have Hunter Green signed through 2029 for relatively cheap and just made the playoffs. They put him on trade block this off season to try and save money. I went to their stadium and paid $13 for a beer and $6 for a water. They want me to pay those prices but don’t want to pay their ace? And we know Elly De La Cruz is likely going to get moved at some points. 

Tigers have a generational ace and are somehow $250 million dollars APART in negotiations? 

and don’t get me started on the teams like Pirates and Marlins who have jokes in control of their teams. 

Creating a salary cap won’t “save” baseball and the Dodgers didn’t ruin baseball. In leagues with salary caps, the teams with bad ownership are still bad and there is a lot of repeats/same champions in those leagues. A salary cap isn’t helping NFL and NBA get too much parity or helping teams with awful ownership like Cleveland Browns or Washington Wizards compete. 

Have the Reds already put Hunter Greene on the trade block? (Hint: No.)

Has some guy who covers the Reds written a clickbait article about the benefits of trading Greene? Yes.

Will the Reds trade Greene? Most likely not.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Someday when baseball expands and puts a franchise on the moon, all the good alien ballplayers will sign with the Green Cheese because they want to stay closer to their home planets.

It's just not fair.

[moonslav59]

The Dodgers have a massive revenue stream. They make a ton of money.

True, they could make way more, if they spent less, but all teams are out to make money.

To those who say they "don't understand why owners don't spend more," look around. Min wage hasn't gone up in over 15 years. There is some outrage over this, but not enough to effect a change. Our outrage over JH not spending more will likely lead to the same result.

[Tedballgame]

4 hours ago, jad said:

Exactly.  How do small market teams like those in NY, Phily, Boston, Chicago, Miami, and Houston manage to compete at all?

St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Cincinnati have no chance. Those are small market teams.

[moonslav59]

15 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Cincinnati have no chance. Those are small market teams.

"No chance?"

MIL had a great regular season. CLE made the dance. KCR advanced one round in the dance, last season. STL has shown they can compete from time to time. The Rays are a small market team that used to be semi-competitive, but have shown they cannot, anymore. MIA is showing some near future hopes but not really at ring-winning level,

To me, the no chance teams (not necessarily smallest markets) are:

PIT, COL, ATH & CWS

Borderline:

MIA, WSH, TBR, LAA (despite the spending) 

Straddling the line:

STL, KCR, BAL, MIN

It would be hard to determine which teams should be disbanded, if MLB decided to downsize, but they are more likely to expand to 32 than decrease. Based on market size and city interest, it might be TBR, MIA and maybe ATH, but PIT and COL seem like worse teams.

Imagine a 27 team league with no NL & AL that could look like this:

East: BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL, WSH, ATL, TOR, PIT

Central: DET, CLE, CIN, MIL, CWS, CHC, MIN, STL, KCR

West: TEX, HOU, COL, KCR, SEA, SFG, LAA, LAD, SDP

The schedule could be more balanced:

12 games vs 8 div teams= 96 games

4 games vs 18 non division teams= 64 games (2H and 2A)

160 games (maybe add 2 games, somehow.)

 

[mvp 78]

On 11/2/2025 at 6:45 AM, Tedballgame said:

Yes, I know the Blue Jays could have won the game and the World Series but they didn’t. Once again, the Dodgers have an unlimited budget and they are able to sign all of the good Japanese players. All of those foreign players should go in the draft just like everybody else. Small market teams have no chance to win the World Series and compete with that. There are many high school in college players that would love to be able to just pick the spot where they play but they can’t. They go in the draft. It should be the same for everybody. I did not watch this year‘s World Series because of that very reason. Baseball will continue to lose fans if this keeps up. 

Jays have a very large payroll, just gave Vlad Jr a 500M contract and tried signing Ohtani and Soto. 

Would people have been upset if they won? 

[mvp 78]

19 hours ago, Tedballgame said:

St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Cincinnati have no chance. Those are small market teams.

Their owners are pocketing so much $$$ it's ridiculous. Feel bad for the fans since they are getting ripped off by their team, not the system.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Their owners are pocketing so much $$$ it's ridiculous. Feel bad for the fans since they are getting ripped off by their team, not the system.

Not trying to go political, here, but doesn't every company follow the same path towards maximizing profit, even if their customers get short-changed?

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Not trying to go political, here, but doesn't every company follow the same path towards maximizing profit, even if their customers get short-changed?

Is running the Boston Red Sox the same as running Boston Beer Co.? Should it be? For a beer company, the goal is to make a profit and everyone is happy and nobody gets fired. The Sox make a profit every season, but people get fired every few seasons if they don't win enough. Nobody is getting fired at Boston Beer if they don't win a gold medal in beer or whatever as long as the money is still coming in. 

[Jasonbay44]

21 hours ago, Tedballgame said:

St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Cincinnati have no chance. Those are small market teams.

No chance? Mets have the 2nd highest payroll in MLB and Marlins have won two World Series more recently than teams like the Mets. Arizona was just in the World Series a few years ago and also won more recently than Mets. Royals? Also won a ring in 2010s. Colorado, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cincy don’t even really try to be competitive.

[mvp 78]

I'll give BAL some credit that they went the TBR route and it came close to working out. A lot of people thought they'd be a strong team for a long time. Playoffs in '23 and '24. They have a lot of good FO people as well. Doesn't seem like the new owners are panning out though. I'm not necessarily sticking a fork in that team though.

The Reds were in the playoffs this season, but that owner is terrible and the Reds haven't won 85 games since 2013. They won't extend or sign their young pitchers. I'd expect the pitching to also take a step back this season and the hitting to be just as bad as it was last year. Trash team. 

[drewski6]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Their owners are pocketing so much $$$ it's ridiculous. Feel bad for the fans since they are getting ripped off by their team, not the system.

hate the playa, not the game

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I'll give BAL some credit that they went the TBR route and it came close to working out. A lot of people thought they'd be a strong team for a long time. Playoffs in '23 and '24. They have a lot of good FO people as well. Doesn't seem like the new owners are panning out though. I'm not necessarily sticking a fork in that team though.

The Reds were in the playoffs this season, but that owner is terrible and the Reds haven't won 85 games since 2013. They won't extend or sign their young pitchers. I'd expect the pitching to also take a step back this season and the hitting to be just as bad as it was last year. Trash team. 

I think Id trade rosters with the reds right now.

[drewski6]

Not owners tho

[drewski6]

Or are you , sir, doubting the greatness of austin hays.

[Kimmi]

It's almost like I could have started this thread myself.

 

[illinoisredsox]

I’m amazed the OP didn’t blame it on Cora.  After all, he came up with and played his first 7 years for the Dodgers.

[Tedballgame]

12 hours ago, Jasonbay44 said:

No chance? Mets have the 2nd highest payroll in MLB and Marlins have won two World Series more recently than teams like the Mets. Arizona was just in the World Series a few years ago and also won more recently than Mets. Royals? Also won a ring in 2010s. Colorado, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cincy don’t even really try to be competitive.

I'm talking about no chance right now and in the next 5-10 years based on what the Dodgers are able to do with their money and being able to cherry pick the Japanese stars. Marlins haven't won the WS in 22 years. 

[jad]

On 11/2/2025 at 6:45 AM, Tedballgame said:

Yes, I know the Blue Jays could have won the game and the World Series but they didn’t. Once again, the Dodgers have an unlimited budget and they are able to sign all of the good Japanese players. All of those foreign players should go in the draft just like everybody else. Small market teams have no chance to win the World Series and compete with that. There are many high school in college players that would love to be able to just pick the spot where they play but they can’t. They go in the draft. It should be the same for everybody. I did not watch this year‘s World Series because of that very reason. Baseball will continue to lose fans if this keeps up. 

You didn't watch?  Well damn I guess you showed THEM!

[mvp 78]

The Dodgers have signed:

Edwin Diaz 3/69

Miguel Rojas 1/5.5

Andy Ibanez 1/1.2

How can they be allowed to keep ruining baseball like this???

[Duran Is The Man]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The Dodgers have signed:

Edwin Diaz 3/69

Miguel Rojas 1/5.5

Andy Ibanez 1/1.2

How can they be allowed to keep ruining baseball like this???

now do the last couple of years.

[mvp 78]

19 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

now do the last couple of years.

2025: 5th highest contract given out (Soto to Mets at 765M)

2024: 1st and 2nd highest contracts (TOR in on Ohtani, Yanks and Mets had similar offers on the table for Yamamoto)

2023: Largest contract was 1/20 to Kershaw

2022: 4th highest contract to Freeman

So people are just mad about the Ohtani/Yamamoto deals then? That's what ruined baseball? Ohtani chose to stay in the LA area and Yamamoto wanted to play with Ohtani? Seems like you should be mad at the players rather than the org? Other teams had the same money on the table for those guys and could have gone larger if they wanted. It's not like LA was blowing everyone out of the water. 

[Hugh2]

25 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

now do the last couple of years.

Yeah last year was insane.  Lets looks at the last two years. 

Yamamoto 325/12

Shohei Ohtani 700/10

Will Smith 10/140

Blake Snell 5/137

Tanner Scott 72/4

Tanner Scott 66/3

Honorable mentions: Tommy Edman and Blake Treinen Roki Sasaki

 

That's insane

[notin]

On 11/3/2025 at 12:29 PM, drewski6 said:

I think Id trade rosters with the reds right now.

Why?!?

You keep citing the Sox had only one hitter in the top 60, but you prefer a roster that had none?

[notin]

I think teams like the Reds are ruining baseball.  I hate the Dodgers, but they’re not the team keeping payroll low start can pocket revenue sharing money that they don’t re-invest…

[JoeBrady]

On 11/2/2025 at 9:48 AM, Jasonbay44 said:

They put him on trade block this off season to try and save money.

I see no evidence to support that.  If Greene was on the block, teams would've been lined up around the block to trade for him.  He's a borderline 'name your price' type of player.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

Why?!?

You keep citing the Sox had only one hitter in the top 60, but you prefer a roster that had none?

Elly should be better this year, but I'd rather be a Sox fan.