The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series with half their starting rotation hurt and Freddie Freeman operating at half-speed for the majority of the playoffs. It’s hard to fathom any team surpassing the raw firepower on the Dodgers roster in the foreseeable future. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freeman are all MVP candidates any given year, and the Dodgers could have a couple Cy Young threats once next season rolls around.
That said, after dropping more than $1 billion in guaranteed contracts last winter, the Dodgers really don’t need to run up the bill again in 2025. That won’t necessarily stop the front office from doing exactly that, however. Los Angeles surely realizes the unique position it occupies in the MLB’s competitive landscape, not to mention their standing as a global brand. With Ohtani on the roster, the Dodgers are a guaranteed contender each season and, more than that, the Dodgers are a guaranteed money-maker. That eases any uncertainty tied to exorbitant expenditures.
The latest rumors connect Los Angeles to upcoming free agent Juan Soto, whose contract could creep toward Ohtani’s historic $700 million high-water mark. That would be… disastrous? Not for the Dodgers, but for the rest of the MLB. Why even play the games at that point? The Dodgers certainly aren’t favorites, but the Dodgers were never really viewed as favorites to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2024, and now here we are. All it takes is a boatload of cash, a well-timed phone call from Ohtani, and the living proof of a World Series title. The Dodgers can absolutely make this a thing…