When the Los Angeles Dodgers made big signings with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto this season, other teams focused on the harsh reality of modern baseball: expensive payrolls don't always lead to championships.
The team that spends the most money has only won the World Series three times in the past 23 seasons: the 2009 New York Yankees, 2018 Boston Red Sox, and 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers. Since the Wild Card Era started in 1995, the highest spender has only won six championships, with the Yankees also winning in 1996, 1999, and 2000.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said on Tuesday that having a high payroll is clearly linked to winning more games in the regular season. However, the playoffs are unpredictable enough that the best team doesn't always win. He reacted too negatively to criticism about the playoffs being unpredictable and the best teams not always winning. In the long run, it's a good thing for baseball.
In the last 29 World Series, only 12 winners had the best regular season record in their league. Last year, Steve Cohen's New York Mets spent a record $355 million on opening day, but finished fourth in the NL East and had to pay a record luxury tax of nearly $101 million.
According to Cohen, some of the best baseball teams in the last 10 years have struggled to win the World Series.
After Texas won its first title, the Dodgers made extravagant additions by signing a record $700 million, 10-year contract with Shohei Ohtani and a $325 million, 12-year deal with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They also acquired Tyler Glasnow from Tampa Bay and gave him a $136.5 million, five-year agreement.
Ahead of this week's opening series against San Diego in Seoul, South Korea, the Dodgers gained a huge following.
Freddie Freeman, an All-Star first baseman, said they are starting to get used to the attention, but it's still overwhelming.
Other teams hope to stop the Rangers from becoming the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees. Bruce Bochy will try to become one of the few managers with five Series titles.
CHANGING PLACES
Other free agents who joined new teams include Sonny Gray, Matt Chapman, and Josh Hader.
San Francisco signed South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee to a $113 million, six-year contract.
Juan Soto was traded from San Diego to the New York Yankees for his final season before becoming a free agent.
As opening day approached, pitcher Jordan Montgomery and designated hitter J.D. Martinez were still free agents. NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell agreed to a $62 million, two-year deal with San Francisco in late spring training.
Some teams may have lowered their payroll due to uncertainty about local broadcast revenue. MLB took over the broadcasts of Padres and Arizona games last year after Diamond Sports Group filed for bankruptcy protection.
Scott Boras, the agent for Snell, Montgomery and Martinez, said, “It’s just profit-taking and a lack of competitiveness.”
Big league umpires may be happy to have a notable new coworker. Jen Pawol was given a full-time Triple-A assignment and is on the verge of becoming the first woman to umpire a major league game.
ALREADY INJURED
Several stars, including reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole with the Yankees, Gray with the Cardinals and closer Jhoan Durán with the Minnesota Twins, will start on the injured list.
An All-Star pitching staff is recovering from Tommy John surgery, including Jacob deGrom, Sandy Alcántara, Félix Bautista, Shane McClanahan and Liam Hendriks. Ohtani won’t pitch this year following elbow surgery in September.
NEW SEATS, HOT SEATS
One of the big winter acquisitions was the Chicago Cubs poaching manager Craig Counsell from rival Milwaukee. The Brewers replaced Counsell with bench coach Pat Murphy.
At 71 years old, Ron Washington is getting another chance to manage with the Los Angeles Angels, and Bob Melvin left San Diego for San Francisco, returning to the Bay Area after previously leading Oakland. Mike Shildt got Melvin’s previous job with the Padres, Joe Espada replaced retired Dusty Baker in Houston, Stephen Vogt got Terry Francona’s old gig in Cleveland and Carlos Mendoza took over the New York Mets.
Boston’s Alex Cora and the Yankees’ Aaron Boone are lame-duck managers in the final seasons of contracts. The Yankees are coming off an 82-80 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
“All you can kind of do is focus on what we have, and I’m excited about our group,” Boone said.
BUSINESS OF BASEBALL
Oakland heads into an uncertain future. The Athletics’ lease at the Oakland Coliseum expires after this season and the team plans to move into a new Las Vegas ballpark in 2028 with no home site set for 2025-27.
Baltimore will enter a new era when Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein completes an agreement to buy the Orioles from Peter Angelos, who has controlled the team since 1993. The sale values the franchise at $1.725 billion and is likely to close just before the Orioles open.
NOT-SO-NEW RULES
After introducing a pitch clock last year that reduced the average time of nine-inning games by 24 minutes to 2:40, its fastest since 1985, MLB shortened it with runners on base by two seconds to 18. MLB also widened the runner’s lane approaching first base to include 18-to-24 inches of fair territory until the edge of the grass, changing a more than century-old rule that caused World Series controversy over interference calls.
Helped by a faster pace and a return to normalcy following the coronavirus pandemic, MLB last year drew 70 million fans for the first time since 2017 at 70.75 million and revenue rose to a record $11.6 billion. However, broadcast revenue is 25% of the total, according to Manfred, and while Amazon’s investment in Bally has created a more positive outlook, the future of media rights is unclear.
Manfred stated that the media environment is unpredictable and evolving rapidly. He added that even the most intelligent individuals in the industry, including himself, are uncertain about the exact outcome of these changes.
