The Dodgers’ World Series victory was “first and foremost a victory for the Mark Walter-led Guggenheim Baseball Management” as this victory made them “unquestionably the best owners in baseball,” according to Bill Plaschke of the L.A. TIMES. They “make a ton of money, but they pour it back into the team at a pace unmatched by their baseball peers.” Not once in their 13-year tenure has Guggenheim “been accused of passing up talent to save money. In most other markets, that is an accusation made daily” (L.A. TIMES, 11/1). In California, Jim Alexander noted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was “asked about the payroll narrative in his briefing before Saturday’s game.” The Dodgers are not “the only ones who spend large sums on payroll, obviously. But there are other ways to create an advantage beyond payroll, and this franchise uses many of them.” Roberts said, “People just overlook the fact that every year we probably have the top-five farm system in baseball. This year I think we probably have the No. 1 or No. 2. We pick at the bottom of the draft every year, towards the bottom, and we still have young guys, whether by way of trade or development, that continue to help contribute.” Roberts: “On the business side, I think that we do a great job of marketing our organization. So it’s pretty buttoned up. I think we have great people and obviously great ownership too” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 11/1).
WIDENING GAP: WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Jared Diamond wrote, “As the Dodgers celebrated on the field and the party began to range across Southern California, the rest of the baseball world was left wondering what happens now.” The Dodgers’ largess inspired “widespread debate and consternation all season long, raising concern that the wealth gap in a sport without a salary cap had become a chasm.” Another championship will “only add fuel to that conversation” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/2).
TO CAP OR NOT TO CAP: In D.C., Chelsea James wrote this Dodgers win in this World Series “was a talking point long before it materialized.” Their “dominance of the free agent market combined with their October dominance on the field was Exhibit A for those arguing the sport needs a salary cap and suggesting the owners should push for it in next offseason’s collective bargaining.” One lesson from this World Series “should be that if money can buy regular chances at a title, it cannot guarantee one. This Dodgers championship should never be remembered as inevitable” (WASHINGTON POST, 11/2).
RUINING A GOOD THING: In L.A., Bill Shaikin wrote this is a “subtle warning to all of baseball’s owners: Don’t let your desperation for a salary cap destroy a sport on the rise -- in no small part thanks to the Dodgers.” This includes growth through the World Baseball Classic that is four months away, and the World Series MVP, P Yoshinobu Yamamoto, is from Japan. So is Dodgers P/DH Shohei Ohtani, “the closest baseball has ever had to its own [Michael] Jordan.” The league -- “and all the owners complaining about the Dodgers and their spending -- happily profited from this traveling road show” that is the Dodgers. The Dodgers “led the major leagues in road attendance, again. The league sent the Dodgers to Seoul last spring and Tokyo this spring.” The league’s television partners “rushed to book the Dodgers, even for games at times inconvenient to the team.” However, the Dodgers “get the same share of international merchandise and broadcast revenue every other team does.” The Dodgers “make a lot of money, pour the money back into the team, and win. They give the people what they want.” However, “not every team can spend like the Dodgers. Most cannot, and baseball should be able to find ways to share the wealth without risking its tenuous but growing popularity by locking out players in pursuit of a salary cap” (L.A. TIMES, 11/2).
BIGGER THAN BASEBALL: In N.Y., Hubler, Parsons & Herstik wrote as Southern Californians watched the Dodgers “power through,” an “impromptu party erupted with a catharsis and joy that was about more than baseball -- a celebration not of only excellence, but of the will to endure.” Southern California has been through a “grueling year” that included disasters that devastated Pacific Palisades and nearby Altadena in January and federal ICE crackdowns. In an interview during the first inning of Saturday’s game, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said that she was “hoping intensely for a victory that would bolster morale in her city.” Across Southern California, fans “echoed her yearning” (N.Y. TIMES, 11/2). In L.A., Castleman, Vives & Shaikin wrote a year of “unprecedented upheaval across the city,” city leaders alike “took the Dodgers’ victory with extra symbolism this time.” The celebrations “brought a rare air of bipartisanship -- at least for a few moments Saturday night” (L.A. TIMES, 11/1).
