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Baseball’s most hated team is also one of its greatest assets.
The two-time defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers lost the 2026 National League Championship Series to the Milwaukee Brewers. Most of the baseball world celebrated as if the IRS had been abolished.
The Brew Crew brought the brooms. Four games. Four wins. Series sweep.
The Dodgers’ hopes of winning three straight World Series championships died on October 15. The Evil Empire of the West Coast has fallen, at least for one year. Good for Milwaukee. And, believe it or not, good for baseball. The fact that so many baseball fans were delighted to see them lose proves that Major League Baseball needs the Dodgers.
People accuse the Dodgers of ruining baseball by spending too much money. Their estimated 2026 payroll was $433.1 million, the highest in MLB history and larger than the annual GDP of 8 countries. They have Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and enough expensive talent to make the New York Yankees look like a small family business.
The baseball chattering class has the usual complaints. “It’s not fair.” “They spend too much money.” “We need parity.” Blah, blah, blah. They sound like the adults from the Charlie Brown cartoons.
Someone call Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. A corporation is trying to succeed.
The Dodgers operate under the same collective bargaining agreement as every other franchise. Baseball imposes a luxury tax on excessive spending, and Los Angeles pays it. The owners willingly shoulder the financial penalties.
What exactly is the scandal? That a baseball team wants to win? The better question is why so many baseball owners seem perfectly content to lose every year. Collect the checks. Minimize expenses. Promise fans that rebuilding will eventually produce a winning team. Next year. Or maybe the year after that. Or maybe never.
The Dodgers refuse to play that game. They play to win, NOW.
Here’s what the Dodgers did. Their owners bought a baseball franchise, hired the most talented people they could afford, invested heavily in their product, and tried to win championships. That’s generally how capitalism works.
Sure, there are advantages of operating in the country’s second-largest market. You have more potential eyeballs on your product, which means more deep-pocketed sponsors and more opportunities to make money. And it’s sunny with warm weather all year long.
Life isn’t fair. Never has been. Never will be.
I’m not 6-foot-5, either. Where’s my compensation check?
I’d rather have an owner who spends too much trying to win than one who spends too little and calls losing a business plan. Sounds like Bush-era Republicans. “Let’s lose this election so we can win the next one.”
We should recognize something admirable here. Not every disparity is an injustice. Not every success requires a government intervention. Sometimes one organization is simply more ambitious than another.
That doesn't mean baseball's economic disparities are imaginary. Smaller-market teams face real disadvantages. But being in a smaller, less glamorous market does not bar you from winning.
Look at the teams in this year’s World Series.
The Brewers entered the 2026 postseason with the best record in baseball: 103-59. They operated with the 19th-highest payroll at $146.2 million. The Tampa Bay Rays finished the regular season with the best record in the American League: 98-64. Their payroll this season was a paltry $90 million, 27th in baseball. No one dragged the Rays owner in front of Congress or called for an audit of the Milwaukee Brewers' finances.
It’s just baseball and competition.
Money buys talent. It doesn't buy championships.
A $40 million player can strike out with the bases loaded just as easily as a rookie making the league minimum. A heavily favored team can blow a four-run lead, which the Dodgers did in Game 4. (In fact, they made baseball history by becoming the first team to blow leads in all four games of an NLCS.) And a roster full of All-Stars can find itself watching the World Series on television.
The Dodgers provide something else the sport desperately needs: a villain.
The old Yankees understood this. People watched them because they loved them or hated them. Either way, they watched.
San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer understands this. "Having a dragon to slay isn't necessarily a bad thing for the sport," he told radio host Dan Patrick back in February.
David’s story from the Bible would not have been as captivating if he defeated another David. David needed Goliath. The Giants needed the Patriots. The Brewers need the Dodgers.
And while the success haters are busy hating, MLB is laughing all the way to the bank. Ratings are up. Attendance is up. Overall interest in the sport is up. More than four million fans attended Dodgers home games in 2026, setting a franchise record. The Dodgers also led baseball in road attendance this season. This year’s NLCS produced the largest average television audience for a League Championship Series since 2015.
For a sport supposedly being ruined by one franchise, an awful lot of Americans seem interested.
The Dodgers’ commitment to excellence reminds us that winning championships, rather than merely participating, remains the objective.
In 1955, Jackie Robinson said, “It kills me to lose. If I’m a troublemaker – and I don’t think that my temper makes me one – then it’s only because I can’t stand losing. That’s the way I am about winning. All I ever wanted to do was finish first.”
Finish first. What a radical concept.
Of course, Los Angeles fans are disappointed. They should be. Losing hurts more when you expect to win. But the Dodgers have nothing to apologize for. They spent the money, assembled the talent, and accepted the risks. The last two Octobers, they won. This October, they lost.
The proper response isn't to punish successful organizations until everyone becomes equally mediocre. That’s called socialism—and it’s deadly.
It's about encouraging other teams to get better.
America doesn't need more wealth taxes or activists demonizing wealth. Baseball doesn’t need to punish the most successful organizations. It needs more owners who do not take shortcuts and are willing to do what it takes to succeed.
The Dodgers aren't ruining baseball. They're making baseball great again.
Written by Vincent Williams
He is a former Music Director at Windy City Underground radio, an on-air talent at Logik Radio and a board operator, sound engineer and videographer. Writing has always been an integral part of Vincent's life. He is a born-again Christian, a lifelong Chicagoland resident, a zodiac Cancer and a lover of anything mint-flavored.
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The Dodgers’ commitment to excellence reminds us that winning championships, rather than merely participating, remains the objective.