DAVID COOK / OPINION EDITOR

Growing up in Northern California, I was raised to love the Giants and learned to hate the Dodgers. I’ve been to more Giants versus Dodgers games than I can count, and every single time, I’ve screamed “Beat L.A.” until I lost my voice. The rivalry runs deep, passed down through generations, from the Polo Grounds to Candlestick to Oracle Park. But lately, it’s started to feel less like a rivalry and more like a rigged game. Because when the Dodgers can spend whatever they want, what chance does anyone else have?

The Dodgers’ payroll this season is an absurd $395 million for their 40-man roster. That’s over $70 million higher than the next closest team, nearly $180 million above the league average and a staggering $330 million more than the Miami Marlins — the team with the lowest payroll. How can a team that pays its players $65 million total compete with a team paying nearly $400 million? They can’t.

It is essential to understand just  how  the  Dodgers  can get away  with  these  massive  pay  gaps across franchises. Unlike other professional sports leagues, the MLB does not have a hard salary cap — a predetermined ceiling on the amount that teams can pay players. Instead, there is a luxury tax threshold, officially known as the Competitive Balance Tax. Teams that exceed it must pay a hefty penalty, ranging from 20% to 50%, depending on how many consecutive years they’ve been over the line. In the 2025 season, the luxury tax was $241 million, a figure that the Dodgers didn’t just surpass, but obliterated.

This season, the Dodgers are roughly  $155  million  over the tax line. As a result, they’re projected to pay about $167 million in luxury tax penalties, which is the  largest  single-year  tax  bill  in baseball  history.  Add  that  to  their payroll, and the Dodgers will  spend  well  over half a billion dollars on their players this year.

So, how can the Dodgers afford to do this year after year? Because they can. Owned by the Guggenheim Baseball Management group, led by billionaire Mark Walter, with investors like Todd Boehly and Magic Johnson, the Dodgers generate massive revenue through an $8.35 billion, 25-year  TV  deal  with  Spectrum SportsNet LA. The deal brings in roughly $334 million annually. They also have league-leading attendance and merchandise sales. For most teams, a $167 million luxury-tax bill would be crippling; for the Dodgers, it’s simply  the  cost  of  doing  business. Their financial power lets them keep paying for elite talent year after year without blinking.

This strategic maneuvering is evident in individual players’ contracts. Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Shohei Ohtani. He signed a 10-year, $700 million deal to leave the Los Angeles Angels. That’s the biggest contract in sports history, yet somehow, it barely affects the Dodgers’ current payroll because of a deferred payment plan that spreads his salary out from 2034 to 2043. 

From  2024-2033,  the  Dodgers will pay Ohtani $2 million per year, and from 2034-2043, Ohtani will be paid $68 million per year, while likely not even  playing  for  the  Dodgers.  This means the Dodgers do not incur luxury tax penalties, since only $2 million of Ohtani’s massive contract counts toward their  salary each year.  That  kind  of  financial engineering is brilliant, sure, but it’s also ridiculous for a league with no real salary cap. 

It is true that when 2034 rolls around, the Dodgers may be in some financial trouble since they will have to pay Ohtani $68 million annually, regardless of whether he is retired or on another team by then. It also becomes even more absurd when you consider the rate at which professional athletes’ contracts have been increasing over the years,  so  when  2040  rolls around,  the  Dodgers  might  not be  taking  as  big of  a  hit  as  they  would  if they paid him now. It’s genius.

And that’s just one player. The Dodgers’ lineup looks like a fantasy baseball team that has come to life. They have players like Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. These are superstars who could easily each be the face of a franchise, all wearing Dodger blue. 

Their pitching staff might be the best in the league, with Ohtani on the mound alongside Snell, a two-time Cy Young winner, proven ace Tyler Glasnow and Yamamoto, who just won World Series MVP and proved every penny of his $325 million contract was worth it. Even their bullpen is stacked, featuring rookie Roki Sasaki, another Japanese  phenom who dominated hitters this postseason. On paper, it’s tough to argue that any roster can compete with Los Angeles.

What makes it worse, is how this spending spree warps the entire league. Teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland Athletics have to scrape by with smart scouting and bargain contracts, while the Dodgers throw money at the problem until it goes away. 

Remember when Blake Snell and  Tyler  Glasnow  led the Rays to the 2020 World Series? They were dominant — until they  lost  to  the  Dodgers. Now, just a few years later, both Snell and Glasnow are on the Dodgers, winning the same trophy they couldn’t get with their small-market franchise. And can you really blame them? Why would two players stay on an inferior team and take less money? It doesn’t make any sense for these stars to stay on their small-market teams when it’s clear that they will get paid more and have a better chance to win on the Dodgers. That’s not poetic justice, it’s just proof that the system is broken.

To their credit, the Dodgers have created a bridge between Japan and Major League Baseball. Having Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki on one roster is inspiring millions of fans overseas. It’s genuinely cool to see how global the game has become. And honestly, it’s hard not to like some of the players themselves. Ohtani might be the most universally respected athlete in sports right now. He’s humble, soft-spoken and freakishly talented. Even Dodger Mookie Betts is charismatic and easy  to  root  for.  If only he weren’t wearing Dodger blue. The problem isn’t the players — it’s the system that lets all the best ones end up on the same team.

Then there’s Freddie Freeman,  who’s  one  of  the hardest  players  to  root  against, even  for  a  Giants  fan.  It’s  almost  tragic that an Atlanta Braves legend like him — someone who helped deliver Atlanta its first title in decades — will probably be  remembered  more  as  a Dodger legend instead. He left the Braves because they couldn’t agree on a contract. Baseball fans  remember  how  there  were reports that his agent was not telling him everything, and Freeman  even  fired  his  agent after the behind-the-scenes details around his surprise departure from Atlanta were released. But the Dodgers were there to swoop in and sign him before the air was clear, handing him a 6-year, $162 million  contract.  Since  then, he’s hit walk-off home runs in two different World Series years and become one of the most essential pieces of their lineup. You can’t hate his game, but you can hate how easy it was for the Dodgers to buy it.

One of the craziest parts of it all, though, is that the Dodgers didn’t even play their best baseball this October. The Blue Jays had real chances to win the World Series and blew them. The Dodgers themselves have admitted it — they weren’t firing on all cylinders. Instrumental players like Mookie Betts and Kiké Hernández struggled. Hernández even said on Betts’ podcast, On Base, “We won a World Series and we didn’t play good at all throughout the playoffs.” They brought their B-game to October, but still lost only one game total in their first three series and cruised to the title series. They completely dominated the National  League  while  not playing well. They swept the best team in baseball, record-wise —the Milwaukee Brewers — in the NLCS. That’s how deep and unfairly stacked this roster is.

I’ll admit it: the Dodgers are an incredible baseball team. They’re stacked, disciplined and well-run. But it’s hard to respect a dynasty built on a blank check. Baseball used to be about balance — developing players in the Minor Leagues, smart trades and a little October magic. Now, it’s about who can afford to spend half a billion dollars.

I’ll still be in the stands next time the Giants face L.A., wearing orange and black, booing every time Freeman steps up to the plate or Betts robs a double in right field. Because even if the Dodgers keep buying championships, they won’t buy all fans’ respect. And until baseball fixes its broken system, I’ll keep chanting the same words I’ve shouted my entire life: “BEAT L.A.”

Shohei Ohtani hoists the World Series trophy after the Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in extra innings of Game seven. Photo courtesy of @Dodgers/Instagram