“Seeing that a big market team like the Dodgers can spend 700 million on one player was really upsetting to me because baseball is turning into a pay-to-play kind of game,” said San Diego Padres fan Sydney Mafong (‘26) in reaction to Designated Hitter (DH) and Starting Pitcher (SP) Shohei Ohtani signing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After the dramatic offseason additions to the Los Angeles Dodgers, ESPN named the team as favorites to win the 2024 World Series. Many sports outlets, including ESPN and Bleacher Report, published articles labeling the Dodgers as a super team because of their big-time signings. Bishops’ students and faculty also characterized the Dodgers similarly and many questioned Major League Baseball (MLB) for not taking any action to restrict the Dodgers from spending so much money. 

Who Did They Sign?

According to the MLB’s website, some of the biggest names the Dodgers signed were Starting Pitcher (SP) Shohei Ohtani, SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Outfielder (OF) Teoscar Hernandez, and SP Tyler Gasnow. The team also signed some smaller names: OF Jason Heyward, Relief Pitcher (RP) Joe Kelly, and OF Manuel Margot. 

Deferrals and Wired Contracts:

By signing so many players, the Dodgers spent over $1 billion, just shy of the amount of money spent by all other MLB teams combined. 

Ohtani and Yamamoto’s contracts and the heavy deferrals by the Dodgers were also mentioned by the media. According to CNBC, Ohtani has a 10-year $700 million contract with the Dodgers, but will only receive $2 million per year. The Dodgers will defer the other $680 million, which they will pay Ohtani between 2034 and 2043 without interest. 

Furthermore, according to CBS Sports, Yamamoto is making $325 million over the next 12 years, but with many strange clauses in his contract. For example, Yamamoto’s ability to terminate the contract early between 2024 and 2029 hinges on not having Tommy John surgery, which alleviates pain in the elbow while also bringing back its strength and range of motion, or a 134-day stint on the injured list due to a right elbow injury; otherwise, he can’t opt out until after the 2031 or 2033 World Series. 

Is The Dodgers Spending $1 Billion Ruining MLB?

The Dodgers splurging a mountain of cash on players stirred up many opinions from passionate Bishop’s MLB fans. Head of School and Dodgers fan Mr. Ron Kim said, “$1 billion is a lot of money, even if some of it is deferred, and it’s a bit out of character for a team that has been careful about large, long-term deals.” However, Mr. Kim appreciated the Dodger’s motivation to make financial commitments to win championships.

Spanish Teacher Ms. Monica Bustamante, Sydney, and Andres Zagursky (‘25), all San Diego Padres fans, discussed the contract’s importance in the next few years, as Ohtani is currently 29 years old. Ms. Bustamante said, “He doesn’t get paid a lot now, and then in 10 years, when he can’t play anymore, he gets paid a lot more, that just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Sydney predicted that when the Dodgers eventually pay Ohtani his $680 million, he will “probably [be] in Japan chilling with his dog, Decoy.” 

Concerning his contract, according to NBC Los Angeles, Ohtani said, “I figured if I can defer as much money as I can, that’s going to help the Competitive Balance Tax and that’s going to help the Dodgers be able to sign better players and make a better team, I felt like that was worth it.” According to Japan Forward, Ohtani also said, “I’m not sure how long I’m going [to] be able to play the game so I did prioritize winning [World Series Titles].”

A Competitive Balance Tax regulates the total amount of money given to a team to spend on players according to the official MLB Website. 

With the Dodgers building a super team, some worry about its negative impact on the competitiveness in the league. Mr. Kim said, “Unlike other sports, baseball does not have a salary cap. Some teams are in bigger markets with greater revenue, and smaller market teams can’t be as financially aggressive as the Dodgers.” 

Sydney passionately explained, “For [the league as a whole], I think [these contracts are mainly] negative because it creates a bigger gap between teams. [Games are] not going to be as competitive. For any other fan in the league… you wanna go and see a duel back-and-forth between both teams scoring; you don’t wanna go in and watch your team get blown out every time.”

Sydney added, “It’s unfair for the smaller-market teams. Sure, it might create more viewership because Shohei Ohtani is on the Dodgers, [but] I think that overall, people are getting upset at the MLB for allowing the Dodgers to defer $680 million. It is unfair that they can try to stack their team so much, and I think that [for] many people, this is not what they want to see.” 

On the contrary, Andres pointed out a positive impact of the Dodger’s spending. He said, “I think after the Dodgers acquired Ohtani, there [was] definitely a new market for Japanese or other international players, so that will help bring in new people and help competition.”

Nevertheless, this amount of spending without regulation by the MLB angered many fans. Mr. Kim, Ms. Bustamante, Andres, and Sydney agreed that salary caps are effective but they also discussed other solutions. 

Mr. Kim said, “In theory, I am in favor of salary caps and also salary floors, which require teams to spend a certain minimum amount of money on salaries. Some teams spend way less than they could, even with revenue sharing.” He added, “A salary cap would set a limit on how much profits can go to players.” Mr. Kim sees the remaining profit going to the owners as a potential problem with salary caps.

Andres mentioned that the MLB and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred haven’t done enough and he said, “Depending on how the Dodgers do [and] if they make it to the postseason and potentially win the World Series, I think there should be a salary cap to allow teams like the Oakland Athletics (A’s) to have a more fair shot of making the postseason.” Side by side, the Dodger’s payroll (the total amount of money a team can spend on players during a season) in 2022 was $275 million compared to the A’s $61 million.  

Ms. Bustamante added to Andreas, “There has to be a salary cap to make it so teams are more thoughtful about who they get. Teams shouldn’t get players just because they can. This would allow more teams to compete and have a seat at the table during free agent negotiations.”

In addition to trade restrictions and salary caps, Sydney mentioned furthering the luxury tax that the MLB currently has. A luxury tax means that when “a team spends over a certain bar, they’ll have to pay even more so that disincentivizes them from overspending,” she explained. Sydney elaborated, “But in the Dodgers case, they’re such a big market team that it doesn’t really impact them a lot,” so she advocated for something like the luxury tax but took a step further to ensure teams can’t spend a lot of money.  

Expanding on MLB’s failure to limit Dodger’s spending, Sydney said, “The league [and] Rob Manfred don’t really do anything. The league thinks it’s great that the Dodgers have Ohtani because his jersey sold the most jerseys ever, more than anyone.” According to Fox Sports, Ohtani’s Dodgers jersey sales set a new record for most jerseys sold in 48 hours, even more than soccer icon Lionel Messi who broke the previous record after joining Inter Miami CF. She added, “It’s great for MLB for viewership and revenue, so I don’t think they will respond.”

Spending so much money in the short term comes with long-term financial consequences. According to the same CNBC article,  higher federal taxes, inflation, and company solvency might be some of the financial impacts. With Ohtani eventually earning $680 million a year, his contract also impacts him as he can’t invest the money early on and has less money to spend now. He will also have to pay higher federal income taxes later on. 

As for the impacts on the team and the fans, Sydney said, “I think that when you do what the Dodgers did, your team will reach a high point and then they will hit a really low point. The Dodgers are putting all their money into the short team, and then after that, they’re screwed for a long time.”

Mr. Kim concluded, “I wouldn’t overreact to the Dodgers’ spending. Championships aren’t won in December, and money helps, but [it] doesn’t determine who prevails in the relative randomness of the baseball playoffs.”