7 hours ago
15
The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the verge of becoming baseball's next 'Evil Empire'. Manager Dave Roberts is leaning into it.
On Friday night, the Dodgers capped off a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) to secure their place in the 2025 World Series thanks to a monster 3-home run night from Shohei Ohtani.
It's set to be their second-straight World Series appearance, their third in six seasons, and their fifth in nine seasons. All this is to say, the Dodgers have become a common fixture in baseball's postseason.
But they're doing so with the most expensive payroll in all of baseball ($240.4 million, nearly $12m more than the next-closest team) and their use of deferred payments for stars like Ohtani and Blake Snell have angered many fans across the league.
With a looming re-negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) threatening a lockout and major financial changes, Roberts decided to play the role of the villain on Friday in his post-game celebratory interview on the field at Dodger Stadium.
'Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,' the manager said. 'Let's get four more wins and really ruin baseball!'
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the NLCS thanks to a strong evening from Shohei Ohtani
After the win, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gloated about his chance to 'ruin baseball'
Baseball fans lashed back at Roberts for his remarks, with one user on X writing, 'You can't hate the Dodgers enough.'
Another user said, 'get ready for lockout 2027, b***h.'
'Here's your face for the upcoming work stoppage. When there's no baseball [in] 2027, just watch this guy every day joke about ruining baseball,' said another user.
The Dodgers are trying to become the first team to win back-to-back World Series titles since the New York Yankees teams from 1998-2000.
In that time, Major League Baseball introduced and implemented a luxury tax to try and bring some financial parity to the playing field.
It's expected that major financial changes will be included in this upcoming CBA negotiation - with many believing that a salary cap could be on the table.
By implementing a salary cap, it would force some teams - like the Dodgers, Yankees, New York Mets and others - to move some of their bigger contracts. It would also likely boost the competitive balance of the league by not having teams hoard superstars.
However, it would mean that baseball players would likely be paid less than what they currently make.
The Dodgers will play the winner of the American League Championship Series between the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays. Seattle currently leads the ALCS by three games to two.
