After spending over a billion dollars, yes that is a billion with a B, this winter the Los Angeles Dodgers are the prevailing World Series favorites. After LA opened their purse for Shohei Ohtani, their World Series odds fell from +550 to +450. Once Yamamoto signed last week the boys in blue had their chances to win it all go all the way down to under 4 to 1 in some books across the country.
One thing we have learned over the years though is that spending money in the winter doesn't always equate to October success. In fact, more times than not, the teams with the bloated payroll do not hit paydirt when all is said and done. We don't have to go back too far to know how the idea of building a super team can backfire. Case in point is the 2023 version of the San Diego Padres. The Friars grabbed Juan Soto in a trade, then they made a big splash by extending Fernando Tatis, Manny Machado, and Xander Bogaerts. They also added a premier closer in Josh Hader to go along with countless other star power names only to finish just 2 games above .500 and in 3rd place in their own division.
This is nothing new though. In the 90's Peter Angelos spent wildly only to not even sniff a World Series berth. The same can be said for Arte Moreno who doled out hundreds of millions to Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Albert Pujols and Otani, only to see his team not even make the playoffs. We don't even have to look past New York to see the lessons that big time spending doesn't always equal success. Just ask Steve Cohen about Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer.
This winter the Dodgers spent like we have never seen a franchise spend before. They grabbed the two biggest free agent names and on paper improved their team greatly, but that doesn't cash a winning ticket. LA looks primed for a World Series title but keen sports bettors will look at that now 4 to 1 odds and scoff. LA still has bullpen and back end rotation issues. They still have question marks in their daily lineup and let's not forget they play in the same division as the NL champs and the same league as the dynamic Atlanta Braves. Spending doesn't equal success in baseball, even if it's billions.
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