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Jeff Passan Reveals How MLB Feels About Dodgers' Spending Habits

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jon Conahan | Last updated May 11, 2025 5:10 PM ET

In some sense, many Major League Baseball fans believe the Los Angeles Dodgers have broken the game. Whether they're upset that their a billionaire owner won't spend money on their team, or the Dodgers doing everything in their power to make sure that they land the top players in baseball on the free agency market each offseason, the Dodgers have done legitimately everything they can to attract our talent.

However, it could be a problem for the league.

With some suggesting that a salary cap, or salary floor, could be put into play soon, Major League Baseball might not love what the Dodgers are doing.

Jeff Passan of ESPN believes the spending habits of the Dodgers and the New York Mets might be a real problem for MLB.

“Now, you very clearly can win without having the sort of payroll that the Dodgers do. We see teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cleveland Guardians — like good teams — year in and year out. But that doesn’t matter when the Dodgers are going out winning championships.

“And to me, that is going to be the ultimate litmus test of this season: if the Dodgers win the championship, the first team since the 1998-2000 Yankees to do it in consecutive seasons, it’s going to be a real problem for MLB I think. And it’s only going to potentially make those calls for a salary cap that much louder,” he said, per Awful Announcing.

Being upset at the Dodgers from the league's perspective wouldn't be fair to Los Angeles.

The Dodgers are doing everything in their power to win; if anything, the higher-ups in MLB shouldn't want that.

The last thing any team should want is to try to lose, and there are many teams around the league attempting to do that by not adding to their payroll each offseason.

Perhaps the Dodgers are playing a different game due to their location, but don't let the owners fool you; they have more than enough money to spend.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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