On the Dodgers and accelerationism
The Los Angeles Dodgers are ruining baseball, but they're also creating a great argument for why MLB needs to push for massive change to how the system works.
The Los Angeles Dodgers haven’t been afraid to spend money since being purchased by the Guggenheim group back in 2012. That being said, it is spiraling out of control lately.
I am here to make an argument that maybe we should root for the Dodgers to continue lighting giant piles of money on fire (and winning World Series trophies)….
The idea behind accelerationism is rooting for the backlash. Things will only get better once we have reached the absolute bottom. I’ve seen people rooting against their political beliefs because they believe it’s the only way to eventually get large-scale support for their political beliefs. This can also be a baseball thing, I’ve decided.
Recent Dodgers history
I’m going to, in an effort to keep this at a reasonable length, start with the 2023 Dodgers.
Depending on how you look at it, the 2023 Dodgers fell somewhere around 4th in MLB in terms of payroll. They were not way out in front like they have been in other seasons.
Still, with a lineup that included Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, J.D. Martinez, Will Smith and James Outman (who finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting), they still had championship aspirations. To this point, the Dave Roberts-led Dodgers had only won the very strange (due to COVID) 2020 World Series and still needed to prove they could do it after a full-length season.
That team won 100 games and then got curb-stomped by the Diamondbacks. The final score of the three-game series was 19-6. The Dodgers didn’t really threaten to win any of the games and couldn’t keep the Arizona offense quiet with the likes of Lance Lynn and Bobby Miller pitching.
That offseason, the Dodgers used their money to reshape the team. They traded for Tyler Glasnow and James Paxton. They signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto out of Japan. And, most notably, they signed Shohei Ohtani. They did other things too, but those four moves alone eliminated their main weakness (starting pitching) and added the modern day Babe Ruth to the lineup.
The 2024 Dodgers were far and away the highest payroll in MLB. They ended the season as World Series champions, although they had to lean on their bullpen to do so due to injuries in the starting rotation.
In the offseason, the Dodgers added the top free agent starting pitcher in Blake Snell and the top international free agent in Roki Sasaki.
The 2025 Dodgers were far and away the highest payroll in MLB. It’s estimated that, with taxes included, they spent $150 million more than the second highest payroll (Mets). That’s more than one-third of the league spends in total on payroll.
They clearly had enough to win this time, especially with Ohtani finally getting back to being a two-way player and adding even more depth and talent to their starting rotation. They 2025 Dodgers ended the season as World Series champions again, becoming the first team to win back-to-back titles in 25 years.
The Kyle Tucker of it all
The Dodgers recently added, for seemingly the third offseason in a row, the top free agent in baseball (Kyle Tucker) to the best roster in baseball to maintain their position as the highest payroll in baseball by a mile.
And I’m not faulting Kyle Tucker at all. In fact, I have convinced myself that the tables of competitiveness have turned so much that the backlash is going to eventually change how baseball works.
As it stands right now, they are again set to spend about $125 million more than the Mets (2nd highest payroll). That difference alone is more than what the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians will spend on their entire team.
After years of not being able to win a real championship, the Dodgers have bought two in a row and have all but guaranteed that the level and depth of talent on their roster will not be topped any time soon.
The problem with that is that sports leagues are driven by money, which is a side effect of popularity. And the bulk of fans want to watch a team that they think has a chance at winning a World Series.
The longer the Dodgers continue to use their financial advantages (mostly their TV contract) over teams from other markets that don’t have them (half of baseball’s 30 teams could wind up under the league’s television umbrella for 2026), the more World Series they’ll win and the less competitive the entire thing will be.
That’s how you chase away real baseball fans. Sure, you’ll get some people that want to jump on board the Dodgers bandwagon and enjoy a ride where they feel like the happy ending is guaranteed, but fans that have stuck with other teams through decades and heartache aren’t going to keep shelling out money to watch their team play the role of the Washington Generals going up against the Dodgers’ version of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Eventually, MLB will have to do something about it. I imagine the Dodgers continuing to be the richest, most successful and most aggressive team is at least part of the reason the other MLB owners seem dug in on a salary cap coming out of the next CBA. I think they’re viewing a potential lockout as something they can stomach more than a future as the Dodgers’ punching bag.
So, with that in mind, go ahead and let the Dodgers have Kyle Tucker. Let them sign all the top free agents. Let them win three, or five, World Series in a row and have nobody come close to beating them in the playoffs. Those flags fly forever, and the backlash is going to be helpful for getting the rest of the league on even competitive footing with the Dodgers.